Freedom Planet: Planet of the Serpents
by Mixedfan8643
Summary: Takes place between Curse of the Dark Stone and Life in Exile. Here, we get to see Torque's side of those stories as he finds himself chasing General Serpentine to his home planet, Vipos. What dangers await our young hero as he explores the Planet of the Serpents...?
1. Chapter 1: Returning to Base

**_AUTHOR'S NOTE: THIS STORY TAKES PLACE IN-BETWEEN "CURSE OF THE DARK STONE" AND "LIFE IN EXILE"_**

 _Chapter 1: Returning to Base_

The blue and green planet seemed to shrink in size with every minute that passed by. The single rocket that was flying up and away from the planet cruised silently through the starry void and up towards the fleet of starships that loomed above the planet. There was somebody watching the planet shrink behind the rocket as it continued to ascend, slowly as if wanting its passengers to admire the view while they still could. The planet still looked beautiful to the passenger peering out through the window even though it was getting smaller and smaller. Soon he wouldn't be able to make out any details and the planet would look like a little speck in the black, starry void of space, mingling with the stars until he came up close to it again. The passenger was a green alien with handsome blue eyes that had a kind but serious edge to them, body armour, grey gloves and a pair of goggles perched above his eyes. He was no ordinary alien though. He was part of an alliance between many worlds known as the "Coalition of Planets". He and the people who were part of the alliance were known as "Chasers" and he was the captain of a new Chaser fleet that had seen plenty of action lately. His name was Commander Torque.

Torque was lying on a bed in the rocket's medical chamber with bandages wrapped around his body and limbs. He was in pretty bad shape but his condition wasn't too critical. He had a few bruises and some small broken bones but nothing serious. He was going to heal, especially with the good medical care that the Chaser fleet provided once he got back to the flagship. He had been injured in a critical battle that had seen the death of Lord Arktivus Brevon at last. He and his fleet had been given a tip-off from his lieutenant and second-in-command, Terra, that Brevon was attempting to invade and destroy Avalice for making him a laughing stock. His fleet had destroyed much of Brevon's fleet but the warlord himself had managed to slip past him in an invisible ship and had landed on Avalice. Torque and Terra had landed on the planet too to meet up with the very special girls that had made Torque's first visit to Avalice pleasant and enjoyable. The girls were known as Lilac the Dragon Girl, Carol the Wildcat and Milla the Hound.

They had helped him stop Brevon the first time he'd ever landed on Avalice, which was now a year ago and yet to Torque, it didn't feel like it had been that long ago at all. Lilac in particular had been very helpful and had been the one to send Brevon packing. Torque had liked her very much and over time, had grown to even love her. He'd managed to see them again at Christmas time last year, also getting to meet Milla's long lost parents too, and now he'd seen them again. But he'd joined up with them as once again, Brevon threatened Avalice's peace and serenity. He had teamed up with Natalya the Lead Scarf, Lilac's personal Avalician enemy, and the two had orchestrated a complex scheme that had led to Lilac being turned into a monster by an evil artefact known as The Dark Stone. Thankfully, Lilac had been stopped and despite Mayor Zao now doubting her and accusing her of treason, she had pulled through and had managed to take out Lord Brevon. She'd not only defeated him again…she had killed him. Brevon's dead body was onboard his rocket and being taken to the fleet so they could deliver it to the man in charge of the Coalition of Planets. He had given the kingdoms of Avalice a photo of Brevon's dead body to show that Lilac was innocent and that they had nothing to fear from him anymore. Now he and Terra were returning back to their friends in the fleet that had come to Avalice to protect it from Brevon in the first place.

Torque reflected back on those events as he glanced out of the window and watched Avalice get smaller and smaller as he left it behind. What a lot to happen in just one day, and all of it had happened yesterday no less! He'd been unconscious when Brevon had been killed and had not long since woken up. The Chaser remembered Lilac's beautiful face and the loving sensation he had felt as she kissed him goodbye. What a lovely sensation that had been. To him, it was as if a knot had been tied between them both as they had locked lips. Torque had enjoyed the feeling of Lilac's lips against his. He would gladly kiss Lilac again if he saw her anytime soon. But would he ever see her again? Was their first kiss ultimately their only one they were ever going to have? The thought made the green alien's face fall.

"Oh Lilac…you're so wonderful and I admire your courage and honour so much. I really feel a connection between us. But we can't be together…" he muttered to himself, "I've got my duties. I can't keep visiting you all the time. I…I wish there was a way things could work out between us and that…we could be together forever."

He imagined that Lilac would jump up to the heavens with joy if such a thing was allowed to happen. But how could it? He was in charge of a Chaser fleet, a role passed down to him after the death of the captain that had once tutored him. He couldn't just abandon the fleet simply because he loved Lilac. What would his High Officer think? Would he accuse Torque of ditching the Chasers? Would he be reprimanded for daring to have feelings for one of Avalice's indigenous lifeforms? It was not recommended to feel affection for anything and anybody in the Chaser fleet. Such emotions could be exploited by the villain. But Torque couldn't just ignore his feelings for the purple-skinned dragon who had helped him defeat Brevon the first time he'd landed on Avalice and then went on to kill the alien warlord himself. He was in love with her, it wouldn't be as simple as just ignoring how he felt about Lilac. Emotions were notoriously complicated things and he knew it.

He was suddenly snapped out of his thoughts as the door opened and in walked his best friend and second-in-command, Terra. The turquoise alien walked up to the green alien, a bright smile on her face. Seeing Terra smile made Torque feel like smiling in return. There was something so lovely about seeing his best friend smiling that could somehow brighten the mood no matter what he felt like. Kind of like how Lilac smiled too. Terra knelt down beside Torque's bed.

"Hey buddy, thought I'd see how you're doing." Terra said cheerfully.

"I'm still achy and I feel like I won't be able to walk for a few days but I'm fine." Torque replied modestly.

"If this is your idea of "fine" then I dread to think what your idea of "OK" is." the she-Chaser snickered.

"Very funny Terra." the commander chuckled.

"Well how about that Torque? We come to Avalice to defend it from Lord Bread-Bin and instead, we end up returning home with his carcass!" Terra exclaimed, "Who'd have thought that was going to happen eh?"

"I imagine the High Officer of the Coalition would be ecstatic to hear this news." Torque replied, "He's wanted Brevon dead or alive for years now. And finally, we're coming to him with Brevon's very much dead body. I never thought I'd see the day where I outlive the evil warlord himself…"

"To be honest pal, never did I." Terra replied, "I honestly wondered if I'd be joining my brother in death before Brevon himself. It's just a pity that Phoenix wasn't as lucky as we were."

"As were the other heroes who fell at Brevon's blade…" Torque sighed, "At least they can all rest in peace with the knowledge that Brevon is gone for good."

"And all because of Lilac, a girl who isn't even a Chaser no less!"

"Yeah…all because of Lilac…"

The alien's eyes shifted down to the bed sheets he was snuggled under and he sighed sadly as the wonderful image of Lilac's kind, loving face came back to his head. Terra caught the signs and knew instantly something was wrong. She put a hand on Torque's arm and looked at him sympathetically.

"You're missing her aren't you?" she asked softly.

"It's a bit early to be missing her since I just left Terra." Torque said bluntly, "But it is related to Lilac what I'm feeling. I'm just…a little conflicted at the moment."

"You worried on what the High Officer will say if he finds out you're in love with her right?"

"A little. But it's something else too."

"And that is?"

Torque sighed again as he brought himself to speak the words he'd been keeping to himself until now.

"I…I kinda want me and Lilac to have a…you know, proper relationship." he explained, "I feel we have a connection and it's one that I feel we should keep between us. But I don't know what to do. I can't just leave you guys and run off with her, it will look as if I'm undermining everything the Chasers are. As our motto goes, "A true Chaser never stops chasing". But at the same time, I don't want to break Lilac's heart by making her think our love will…will never go anywhere."

"That's understandable." Terra said, slowly nodding, "I kinda wish you could stay with that awesome dragon girl too. You deserve her Torque, she's one of a kind and a very special girl. You'll never see anybody like her again, even if you traverse the entire galaxy to find another girl."

Torque nodded grimly, knowing that Terra was absolutely right. He would never ever find a girl like Lilac again, not that he would actively go out looking for said girl anyway as it wasn't in his nature. He had to make his relationship with Lilac work, it was the only way he'd ever be able to settle down and embrace his inner feelings. If he couldn't, then he would never feel any joy in his life with the constant thought of Lilac missing him and he not being able to return his love to her nagging at his mind. The Chaser even began to wonder if it would have been better if he'd never come to Avalice in the first place, that way he and Lilac wouldn't have this potential problem. And yet if he hadn't ever landed on that planet, there would have been a lot worse to worry about than simple feelings for a female. Torque frowned at himself. How could he have thought for a minute it would have been better if he'd never landed on Avalice?! It was fortunate that he'd landed there and he was happy to have met Lilac, Carol and Milla when he had landed last year. He never would've thought that he'd end up in love with one of them at the time though. Torque sighed and looked back at Terra.

"I'll try to find a way for this to work." he said.

"How about you talk to the High Officer about it?" asked Terra, "Surely he'd understand your situation."

Torque stared incredulously at Terra as if she'd just asked him the stupidest question in the world.

"Are you serious Terra?" the captain gasped, "I can't tell the High Officer that I've fallen in love with one of Avalice's indigenous residents! He'll go crazy on me! The High Officer forbids Chasers to become infatuated with anybody, be they our people or other species! If I tell him about my love for Lilac...I'll be finished!"

"Well then maybe the High Officer needs to learn that love isn't weakness like he consistently believes..." Terra muttered, "My love for my late brother certainly didn't make ME weak and your love for Lilac hasn't made you weak at all. Your injuries aren't because of the fact you've fallen in love with the dragon girl for starters."

"Terra my friend, you know full well that we can't argue with the High Officer." Torque said sternly, "We have to respect his wishes or face punishment. He only wants the Coalition of Planets to remain strong in its crusade against injustice and other-world crimes. We can't argue with him...or the Chasers are history."

The she-alien was about to argue some more but she knew full well that the he-alien was right. Any attempts to argue with the High Officer would result in punishment, maybe even banishment. She loved her job in the Chasers and couldn't bear the thought of losing it. She didn't feel that it was fair for Torque to live with the fact he had somebody who loved him but he had a job that left no time for love but it would be better to not get on the High Officer's bad side. Sighing, she stroked Torque's arm to comfort him.

"OK then." she said, "We won't go with that idea. And I would suggest we do something behind his back but knowing you, you'll refuse that too."

"The High Officer is very good at finding things out Terra." Torque reminded her, "Even the most secret of secrets in the Chasers get found out eventually. It doesn't help how he has the ability to hypnotize people into telling the truth..."

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that." snickered Terra, "Damian's face was so priceless when the H.O. hypnotized him into revealing that he was the one who pulled that stupid prank on him last month! Man that was so funny!"

"I doubt Damian thought it was that funny." the male Chaser chuckled, "But either way, I'll try and figure something out. For now though, we should focus on getting back to headquarters and delivering Brevon's body to the Coalition of Planets council."

"I wonder if the H.O. and his buddies will reward us for his death?"

"If there's anybody who should be rewarded for this, it's Lilac."

The two Chasers remained in silence for the rest of the trip, having nothing else to say after that statement. They peered out of the window to see where they were now. They were almost back at the Chaser fleet flagship. Just a few more minutes and they would be docking on-board though Terra would have to carry Torque in as he was still too injured to walk. The Chaser fleet had remained on standby, waiting for Torque and Terra to return to them. They had been informed that they would have to wait longer than expected yesterday and had been ordered to wait as long as was necessary. The fleet was now receiving them, the flagship's docking doors opening up as the rocket cruised towards them. The flagship was huge and sleek with the Chaser logo painted on either side and the nose cone. Its silver bodywork made it look even sleeker and the ship had heavy gun turrets that could vaporize any enemy ship if the cannons were at full power. It had been very useful in the defence of Avalice earlier, taking out many of Brevon's ships during the fight and taking out the Dreadnought, Brevon's flagship, itself. Torque and Terra remained beside one another as the rocket's engines shut off and the ship's docking arms reached down to grab hold of it and gently carry it inside. The outside world of space was replaced by a view of the ship's docking bay as the rocket was carried inside. Torque noticed that three of his crew was here to receive him and his lieutenant. The trio waiting for him and Terra were Chasers too and had taken part in the battle against Lord Brevon earlier. One was Torque's size, the second was bigger and the third was smaller.

The smallest one was a girl named Violet. She was so-called because of her trademark violet skin. She had beautiful blue eyes, a slender figure and red armour that was designed the same way Terra's was. She had twin strands of hair and a cheerful smile on her face. Violet was very popular amongst the fleet for not only being very pretty, but for being very chipper and enthusiastic. The Chaser often lightened the mood whenever things were looking rough for the fleet, something that Torque admired greatly. She was the ship's navigator and was very loyal to her job. She enjoyed navigating the flagship through space and planets and was always happy to be where she was now.

The one that was the same size as Torque was a young member named Damian. He was hot-headed and stubborn, something that Torque wasn't too keen on. He had a lighter skin tone than Torque and had wild hair that made him look rebellious. He had brown eyes and a laid-back expression that showed his personality every time he wore it. He was younger than Torque but physically stronger due to vigorous muscular exercises that he often partook in in his spare time. His muscles weren't huge but were noticeable. He was often nicknamed a "Pint-Sized Powerhouse" due to being powerful and yet being small like most of the Chasers seemed to be. He had no role in the ship as he was still learning.

The tallest one was a slightly elderly Chaser named Olaf. He was renowned for his intelligence and often pragmatic nature concerning warfare and any fight the fleet ended up in. Olaf had a thicker set of armour, presumably to protect him as his aged body wouldn't hold up as well as the others, and he was one of the few male Chasers to be a different colour to green. He was a golden-brown colour. He was the science expert of the fleet with skills in technology and biology and was often the one to run to when a study was needed.

The three watched as the rocket's docking ramp lowered down and the two Chasers they knew that would be onboard, came out to meet them. They were surprised to see Terra walking out first with Torque following slowly behind her on a hoverbed. They could see that he'd been badly hurt and were quick to surround him. Terra stepped back to let them see to their leader.

"Commander! What happened?!" Violet squeaked.

"You look terrible dude!" Damian blustered, "Did somebody on Avalice throw a few punches at ya?"

"Judging from his injuries, I'd suggest he's had more than a few punches sonny." Olaf said matter-of-factly, "He looks more like he's been hit by something heavy."

"I was." Torque grunted, pain flaring up his torso, "Lord Brevon…managed to get past us on an invisible ship. He landed on Avalice and he used a gem called the Dark Stone to turn himself into a dragon. A huge, monstrous, destruction craving dragon…"

The trio gasped in horror at what their commander had just said.

"That's terrible!" Violet shrieked, "Did Brevon do that to you?! Is that why you're injured?"

"Yes." the commander replied, "He hit me and knocked me out. I just woke up moments ago."

"How did you and Terra stop Brevon?" Damian asked eagerly, "Did you do it yourselves or did that dragon chick you told us about do it?"

"Me…and Lilac did it together." Torque said truthfully, "I helped her to defeat him. However…she didn't just defeat him. She KILLED him."

"You're pulling our legs Sonny Jim!" Olaf exclaimed.

"It's all true guys." Terra said, "In fact, here's his dead body…"

She and Torque moved aside as another hover-bed came hovering out of rocket and drifted slowly towards the disbelieving Chasers. Damian, Olaf and Violet all stared incredulously at the hover-bed, taking note of what was on said hover-bed. It was Brevon's body, completely nude and with a gaping hole in his chest. He looked more than a worse for wear. His eyes were tightly closed and his body was still. He was definitely dead. The Chasers all gasped, their mouths dropping down far as they took in what they were seeing.

"NO WAY!" Violet screeched, "It's…it's a miracle! A big fat miracle!"

"By Jove…he IS dead!" Olaf cried, walking over to the body and feeling for a pulse, "That hole in his chest, while gruesome, is a definite sign that he's a goner! However did the Avalician dragon girl do this to him? I don't recall you telling us she's brutally savage commander!"

"When Brevon used the Dark Stone, it ended up stuck to his chest." Torque explained, "Lilac had to destroy in order to stop him. She did…and ended up killing him at the same time since destroying the Dark Stone tore that hole into him. Either way, we owe her all our thanks for finally ridding the universe of Lord Brevon's tyranny!"

"If I ever see that girl, she's so gonna be my best friend!" Damian declared, "She must be awesome, beating Brevon twice in a row and actually killing the bastard! Can we meet her?"

"Not right now cadet." Torque said, "First, we have to let the Coalition of Planets know what we've been up to and then we need to show them Brevon's body so we can prove that he's dead. And I also need to rest up. I really took a beating…"

"Once Torque's all better, we promise that we'll take you to Avalice one day." Terra said brightly, "And then you can squeal to Lilac about how much you think she's awesome." she added, chuckling.

"Cool!" the young Chaser exclaimed, punching the ait triumphantly, "I look forward to that!"

"I'd love to visit the planet too." Violet said sweetly, "It sounds like a nice planet and it'd be great to have a glimpse of what we've been protecting from Brevon."

"I myself would love to research the world and see what magnanimous features and properties it has to offer." Olaf announced in a rather authoritative voice, "I could add it to my over growing encyclopaedia of the galaxy. A page dedicated to Avalice and all is history would be wonderful to write about."

"Pity nobody will ever read that boring-ass book you keep updating…" Damian sighed rudely.

Olaf ignored him. He was used to the boy's ignorance and complete lack of interest in literature. Why couldn't people appreciate the wonders of literature like he did? Olaf was an avid reader and had wanted to write his own book, hence why he was writing an encyclopaedia about the galaxy. He planned to release it once he was sure he'd discovered every single world there was though as he got older, he wondered if he'd even live to see it completed.

"I'd love to bring all of you to Avalice one day." Torque announced, "Let's just hope that the High Officer's willing to let me go there again."

"Sorry to burst your bubble commander but we've only just finished a mission there." Violet said matter-of-factly, "We're not often permitted to go to a world so shortly after protecting it. It makes us too predictable for enemies as you know. It might be a while yet before you can ever visit the place again sir."

"I hope it won't be…" the alien commander muttered.

"What's the matter sir? Is there something wrong?" the red-armoured Chaser asked, picking up warning signs from the way her superior had just said those words.

"No, no, I'm just a little sore that's all." Torque lied, "Come on, let's get back to headquarters so I can rest for now."

"Wait, we almost forgot something!" Terra exclaimed suddenly.

She quickly ran back into the rocket. Damian, Violet and Olaf raised their brows in confusion. What was it and why had Terra run off in such a hurry? Torque lay back on the hover-bed, knowing what was coming next. Terra re-emerged from the rocket with a surprising extra passenger. It was General Serpentine, Lord Brevon's right hand man. He had been arrested after Brevon was killed and had spent the entire trip handcuffed and stuffed in the cargo hold. He didn't look very pleased at all. His eyes burned with fury and his teeth were clenched. He was trying to break out of the cuffs but his cybernetic arms weren't strong enough. The cuffs firmly held his hands tightly together. He glared at the trio staring at him.

"What are you losers looking at?!" he shouted.

"I think the only loser around here is you snakehead." snickered Damian, "You've been caught and arrested just like the crew of that ship that tried to fly past us earlier!"

"Come again?" asked Torque, suddenly alert.

"Just a few minutes ago, about half an hour before you two got back here, we saw a ship trying to fly away but we managed to catch it and arrest the crew." explained Violet, "They're Brevon's flunkies obviously. That ship was one of the ones in his fleet and I assume, the one that managed to sneak past us onto Avalice."

"I did wonder how that ship managed to come out from under us…" Olaf mused to himself.

"I was wondering why Brevon's crew didn't stick around." Torque said more to himself than anybody, "Well now we know. They tried to flee but you guys caught them."

"We sure did. They're locked up in our detention block so don't worry, they're not going anywhere in a hurry captain." the Chaser navigator said brightly.

"And now serpent boy here can join them." Damian crowed, smirking at Serpentine.

"Just you wait commander! You and your crew will regret the day you ever arrested me! And that impudent dragon girl will regret the day she ever decided to murder my master!" Serpentine barked, "Lock me up for all I care! I'll only come back and then lay waste to this entire fleet and all of Avalice!"

"Such a darn pity the general's volume level hasn't lowered…" grumbled Olaf.

"It won't be much of a problem once he's locked up." Terra said, winking at the elder Chaser, "Sound proof doors and walls as you know. He can shout all he likes, we won't hear him."

The alien snake glared at the turquoise alien, wishing dearly that his hands were free so he could spin around and strangle the impudent girl. Just his rotten luck to get captured and arrested like this! But he knew that all was not lost. He had a trick up his sleeve, a trick that nobody in the entire fleet would ever suspect. He would wait until he was locked up before he put it into action. He stood still, which in a snake's case isn't quite the same as when a human stands still, and watched as Torque shifted slightly on the hover-bed and turned to Terra.

"Be kind and take Serpentine to his cell if you please lieutenant." he said politely.

"It'd be my pleasure commander." Terra said gleefully, smirking at Serpentine.

She whipped out one of the pistols that she'd stolen from one of Lord Brevon's goons whilst disguised as one before the whole thing started and jabbed it into the snake's back. She forced him to slither forwards, taking him out of the docking bay and leading him to the ship's detention block. The moment the two were out of the room, Torque's hover bed began to move forwards with Damian, Violet and Olaf following him. The bed carrying Brevon's corpse followed the Chaser Commander too. Torque was going to the medical bay with Brevon's body close behind him and the other three were going up to the bridge so that the ship could get going and head off back to headquarters to announce what they had just accomplished to the Coalition of Planets council and the High Officer. Torque waved goodbye to his navigator, cadet and scientist as they headed off down a different corridor while he continued forwards. They waved back to him, wishing him a good rest on the journey home. Said journey wouldn't last very long for the fleet would jump into hyperspace and travel at the speed of light back to headquarters. The trio headed on up to the bridge, taking one of the elevators that quickly whisked them up to the top floor, leaving Torque to deliver himself to the medical bay. His hover bed continued carrying him through the corridors with Brevon's body just inches behind. He wondered how long his injuries would take to heal. He hoped it wouldn't be long for he was keen to get back into the action and continue his duty. And yet…Torque wondered for a moment if the Chasers would become obsolete now that Brevon was gone. He was sure that they wouldn't but he imagined things would be surprisingly quieter from now on now that their biggest and most powerful enemy was dead…

Meanwhile, Terra and Serpentine had arrived at the detention block. It was a row of cells that stretched around all four corners and was located on the bottom floor of the vessel. Some of the cells were full of robots and aliens that were part of Brevon's army. They looked annoyed to be locked up and they were trying to break out. But there were no doors keeping them trapped in the cells, only a transparent force field that drowned all sound out. Escaping the cells were impossible unless you tore your way through the floor or the walls, which even then wasn't easy given how thick set they were built. Serpentine noticed his poor crew-members trying to break out. Even Lord Brevon would never have been able to get out of this one if he'd ended up here. Terra took him over to an empty cell and pressed her hand against the control panel beside it. The panel read her handprint and the force field shut off. Terra shoved Serpentine into the cell and then closed him in, reactivating the force field. She sneered at him, pleased to see the abrasive reptile locked up at last. She and Serpentine had built up quite a rivalry between each other and seeing the general behind a transparent force field made her very happy.

"Hope you like it in here you loud-mouthed schnook." she taunted, "Because you're staying here until we get back to headquarters. And then we're going to put you in a cell in the headquarters where you're staying until you rot. Remember to say high to Brevon for me when you join him in hell Serpentine."

"I have a feeling that you'll soon be eating those powerful, yet poorly-chosen words girl!" the snake general growled, "Don't forget that Brevon's army is still at large! You didn't destroy it all in the fight and some of our ships managed to get away! They'll come for you and make you pay for killing my master and arresting me!"

"Yeah like that'll happen." Terra snorted, "We'll tear his cronies apart, especially since we have his tech to use against them. Remember the mech-suit Torque used against Brevon?"

"We'll see how confident you feel when Brevon's army tears this fleet apart!" Serpentine shouted.

"Not gonna happen sucker so get used to it." the Chaser replied, "See you later General Gruesome. Hope you enjoy the ride."

She then turned on her heels and strode out of the room, leaving Serpentine alone in his cell to sit back and do nothing but think about things. The moment she left, the trigger-happy serpent grinned wickedly to himself. It was the kind of smile a snake might have made before lashed out and snapped its jaws around an unfortunate mouse that wandered into its territory.

"Now for my contingency plan…" he said to himself, "Brevon always told me that there would be a time I'd need this…"

He raised his left arm and touched it lightly with his right hand. A panel on his left arm suddenly flicked open, revealing a big button underneath, surrounded by circuitry on either side that fed power into his arms and picked up his brainwave patterns to determine which action he wanted them to take. Serpentine smiled to himself. How stupid these Chasers were, letting him keep his cybernetic appendages! Then again, they weren't to know that his arms concealed an emergency button that he would press whenever he needed to press them. They were used to call Brevon if he needed his help. But they weren't just for calling Brevon. Serpentine pressed the button and smiled deviously to himself. He had sent out a distress signal and the Chasers had no idea that he'd done so. They would never see his rescue party coming, not from millions of miles away…he was going to be freed…and revenge would be carried out shortly after…

* * *

His distress signal was received on a planet millions of miles away from Avalice. The planet itself was distant and lonely with no other planets around it. There wasn't even a moon to partner the planet as many others did. There was only a sun and even that seemed reluctant to be in the same place as this planet. The planet was a vast wasteland with a sickly green sky and black trees with no leaves and a kind of bark that was foreign to everybody except the planet's inhabitants. There were cities on the world but they were dingy, ugly looking establishments with buildings that looked as if they were trying to avoid getting inhabitants rather than inviting them to live in them. The air was revolting too, smelling of poison no matter where you stood on the planet. There were hordes upon hordes of snakes slithering through the streets. They all greatly resembled Serpentine, even baring cybernetic arms like he did. They all ranged in sizes and colours, some being huge and some being tiny and some even had more than one tail. The snakes were indigenous to this world. They roamed every inch of it and despite the horrid atmosphere and the hideous cities they inhabited; they thrived in the world quite happily. It was especially happy for them that they had been given the cybernetic arms that Brevon had given Serpentine. They were ordinary snakes living how snakes lived until they had been given a gift of science from the alien warlord. Now they all had cybernetic arms and some even had extra cybernetics on them like claws on their tails or even making themselves metal all over. Like Serpentine though, their cybernetics had the same kind of side effect they had had on him. Their brains had been altered by their enhancements, making every single cyber-snake on the planet loyal to Brevon or Serpentine.

The planet was known as Vipos, home of the alien snakes that Serpentine originated from. Vipos was considered the ugliest planet in the galaxy thanks to its hideous architecture and abhorrent life forms. Nobody except the inhabitants liked the planet and thus, Vipos never had visitors. The planet was populated only by snakes and they were ruled over by a king and queen. They were horrible people, not that their subjects minded, and ruled over the world of Vipos without any rivals or contenders. They too had cybernetic enhancements, the first ones to receive them after Serpentine himself.

The queen was a sandy-brown coloured python with fearsome yellow eyes that were said to be so chilling that her victims froze in terror upon staring at them. She had a cybernetic torso section and arms and wore a helmet with two sharp knives attached to either side near the face. They gave her a menacing appearance but could also be removed to use as weapons. She had a mace attached to her tail that she wielded to deadly effect. Her name was Valka and she was very special to Serpentine. She wasn't just his queen…she was his mother.

The king was a red-skinned cobra with a hood that had evil eye markings inside and his cybernetics consisted of a helmet that covered his entire head and mouth, powerful cyber-arms that looked strong enough to crush boulders with ease and his tail had a sword blade attached to it. His helmet had a laser that he could fire with just a thought in the forehead section. His name was Steeljaw, a name he now went by due to the fact his helmet gave him the appearance of having a steel jaw. His original name had long since been forgotten after he'd adopted his new name. Valka loved her husband very much and thought that his new name was better than his original one.

Valka was looking at her arm, which also had an opening panel like her son's did, and she peered at it as a light on her arm began blinking several times. It was a distress signal from Serpentine. All cyber-snakes had those installed in case of emergencies. Lord Brevon himself had suggested such an idea when he created the cybernetics that were now being gleefully worn by the people of Vipos. The female snake hissed alarmingly as she saw what was wrong. She closed up her arm panel and turned to face her husband. The two were standing in front of their thrones in a darkly lit room that, like the world outside, had architecture that was clearly meant to intimidate, not invite. This was their throne room and their throne room was inside a colossal fortress that overlooked the grotesque city beyond. The fortress was heavily armoured and massive in size. It could easily hold back an army if any such force was foolish enough to try and attack the king and queen.

"Ssssteeljaw. We have a ssssituation." Valka hissed, her voice husky and menacing, "Our sssson has ssssent a disssstress ssssignal to me. He needssss our help."

"And help is what we'll give him my good queen." Steeljaw purred. He had a smooth, charismatic voice that made him pleasant to listen to, but that all changed when he began snarling and hissing at his enemies.

"Do you have any idea where our son is now?"

"The ssssignal tellssss me that he issss a long, long way from here." Valka explained, "But we can reach him if we use our ssssuper cruissssers. Their hyper-drives will get ussss to him in no time at all."

"Allow me the honour of retrieving our son my dear." Steeljaw offered.

"You are granted that honour my king." the queen snake purred, smiling at her husband, "Do not resssst until our sssson is brought back to ussss."

"I won't." the king snake replied, "Though I have to wonder why he's calling us. Surely Lord Brevon can help him?"

"Maybe he can't contact Lord Brevon at the moment…or worse." Valka murmured, "Either way, we can't ignore hissss call for help."

"Indeed not." Steeljaw said agreeably, "I'll be on my way to rescue him now my love. I'll be back soon…and I'll bring back any dead bodies for us to feast on if anybody gets in my way."

"That'll be wonderful Ssssteeljaw." Valka said with an ugly smile on her face, "Good luck out there, esssspecially if you happen to run into thosssse annoying Chassssers at all."

"If any of them get in my way, you can bet they'll be finding themselves on the dinner table…" the tail-bladed snake growled.

He turned around and slithered away, leaving his wife to sit back on her throne and await his inevitable return. Steeljaw had never failed her before and she was confident that he wasn't going to fail her this time. Serpentine would be saved and back with them before anybody knew it…

* * *

 _ **Well the Chasers have good news to deliver...but it seems Serpentine's parents are coming to rescue him. Will the Chasers be ready for this or is there no chance of them being prepared for their arrival? Find out next time...**_


	2. Chapter 2: The Meeting

_Chapter 2: The Meeting_

The Chaser Fleet suddenly appeared in the black void of space as if they had just been summoned out of thin air by magic. First the flagship appeared and then the rest of the fleet followed as if the whole thing was some amazing magic trick where one ship after another appeared out of nowhere. The fleet had just come out of hyperspace, having sped through millions of miles in a matter of seconds thanks to the prodigious hyper drive engines they were all equipped with. Journeys could be done in seconds, literally seconds, because of those engines. It didn't matter how far away they were, even if their destination was billions of miles away, the hyper drives would carry the entire fleet over there in seconds or minutes.

It was useful to the Chasers, especially when they had to get to places really quickly. Thanks to their hyper drives, the entire fleet of vessels had made it home to headquarters in 40 seconds. Even then, the Chasers onboard felt as if the trip had lasted even shorter than that. The fleet now had only a few miles of space left to cruise through before they were officially inside their headquarters. The flagship headed on ahead with all the surrounding ships following closely behind. It looked like a space-faring version of "Follow the Leader" with the leader looking very conspicuous given its larger size in comparison to its followers. The ships soon arrived at their headquarters. The Coalition of Planets, the organization that had formulated thanks to an alliance between many worlds, was homed in the very centre of space itself, an area where space began and stretched on from there. The area itself was a dazzling vortex of beautiful purple and gold colours that looked as if they were soon going to swallow up what was looming in the middle of it. But the huge space centre was quite safe where it was, the colours weren't anything harmful that could damage it in anyway. It was possible they were just a swirling mass of stars that shone in those colours. The Chaser's headquarters was a tall, narrow shaped building that had rings all around the centre of it and a huge domed section on top. The "rings" were actually round structures that housed many facilities inside the space centre and the dome at the top was where all the Coalition of Planets meetings took place. There was a huge, circular base supporting the high-reaching tower and that was where all spaceships would dock when the headquarters received visitors. The shiny, silver colour of the building made it stand out from the purple and gold swirling behind it. The building also seemed to spin but very, very slowly on the spot. It was impossible to tell unless you stood watching it. This feature gave the occupants of the headquarters a chance to see a full 360 view of their habitat without needing to walk all around the centre.

The flagship cruised towards the bottom of the space centre and the docking doors opened up, welcoming it inside its huge, steel interior. The rest of the fleet followed. They were like toys in comparison to the overwhelming size of the Coalition Headquarters. The space centre could house the entire Chaser fleet and still have room for extra vessels. It never ceased to amaze Torque and his crew just how such a structure had been constructed in the void of space and was still able to stand there, continuously spinning at around the same speed every planet in the galaxy did. It was a miracle of technology that much was certain. As Torque felt the ship enter the base's hangar bay from the comfort of his hover-bed, the door to the medical room opened up and Terra walked inside to greet him. The Chaser Commander had spent the entire trip in this room, which in itself hadn't been a very long one. To Torque, it felt like he hadn't even had time to relax yet. He nevertheless smiled as he saw his lieutenant approach him.

"Well buddy, we're back. Home Sweet Home as they say." Terra announced.

"Back at Coalition HQ. It doesn't feel that long since we left." Torque chuckled, "I wonder what Lilac would've thought if she could see our base?"

"She'd be amazed, that's for sure." the she-alien replied, "Next time you see Lilac, you oughta bring her here so the High Officer can thank her personally for killing Lord Unibrow."

"Maybe I could." the he-alien agreed, "Though when I'll get to do that is anyone's guess. I'll just have to hope that the H.O. will let me visit Avalice again."

"I'd be happy to join you if you ever visit again. Maybe learn some more about the planet." Terra said brightly, "We could bring Damian, Olaf and Violet too. They'd love to meet Lilac and her friends."

"I know, especially Olaf as he loves visiting new species." Torque chuckled, "In the meantime…just gotta keep moving forward with the mission as they say. Wonder how long it'll be before we go out into battle again?"

"Maybe longer than usual given Lord Guttural Growl is gone…"

"For some, that might be a good thing. A lot of folks enjoy the peace and quiet."

"Not me. I'd sooner be getting into the action again!"

"Space is a big place Terra, I'm sure you'll find action anywhere you go."

The two friends smiled at each other and fist-bumped. Their lives were all about adventures so for all they knew, adventure could be waiting for them even as they were cooling down from the big fight with Brevon and the hectic events that nearly saw Avalice's doom. They could even be having adventures that didn't involve a big battle. Torque knew that Terra would be all too happy to go on a voyage through another planet and have some fun if she could. He would be right beside her all the way if such a thing was to happen now.

The two Chasers jolted as they felt their flagship touch down. The interior shuddered ever so slightly as the ship touched the floor of the hangar bay. They were officially onboard. They imagined that all the different aliens and lifeforms onboard the colossal base were ready to greet the entire fleet and hear from them. They would be getting news bigger than they would be expecting that was for sure. Terra smiled brightly at Torque, holding his hand tenderly.

"We've landed! Time to show our buddies the good news!" she squealed.

"The good news they never thought they'd hear…" Torque murmured, "Say um, how was Serpentine when you put him away?"

"Grouchy, obviously, and he started being threatening and all but he wasn't too troublesome." Terra explained, "He didn't try to get away from me as I locked him up."

"That's good." the crew captain replied, "I hope he won't give us any grief as we take him to the High Officer."

"The High Officer will be giving HIM grief buddy…" the Chaser second-in-command noted, smirking at the very thought of their superior giving Serpentine a piece of his mind.

"Yep. Nobody messes with the H.O. as you know." Torque said with a sly wink.

Terra nodded, knowing all too well just how true that statement was. It was often said that anybody who got on the wrong side of their superior ended up with a punishment too graphic to speak of. She wasn't sure if she believed those rumours though as despite how strict and business-like the High Officer was, she couldn't imagine him inflicting bodily harm unless he was in a fight. And even then, it was rare he would ever take part in a fight himself. But Terra knew that it would be wise not to find out if the rumours were indeed true and continue on as expected. She left the medical bay to fetch the imprisoned Serpentine so they could lock him up in their headquarters. She would feel a lot happier with her base housing the cyber-snake instead of the Chaser fleet's flagship. Torque commanded his hover-bed to take him out of the medical bay. The bed whirred into life and carried him towards the door. As it passed the hover-bed with Brevon's dead body, it sent out a silent signal that caused the hover-bed to whirr into life and follow it. It was a bizarre sight to see two hover-beds each with a body on, one alive and one dead. Torque knew all too well that it could have been two hover-beds with both a dead body each had Brevon actually managed to kill him and was still grateful that he had survived despite his crippling injuries. He supposed he had to thank Lilac for that. The alien commander then briefly allowed himself to think about the dragon. How was she doing now? Was she celebrating Brevon's demise? Was she repairing her destroyed treehouse? Whatever she was doing, he imagined the dragon was having a good time now. Better than he was, that much was certain.

A few minutes later, Torque disembarked from his ship with the rest of his crew and they all stood to attention as some alien officers came to welcome them back. They were the security personnel of Coalition HQ and it was their job to welcome home the crews of any Chaser fleet that went out into battle. They would also run very sophisticated scans over every member to make sure they weren't compromised, an enemy in disguise or anything suspicious. They could even read minds if they needed to. They would even do the same for the ships to make sure they were uncontaminated too. The Chasers found these practices annoying but put up with them nonetheless. It was better to be safe than sorry and given how Coalition HQ would easily be a popular target for the enemy, they had to be as safe as possible. The alien security officers were reptilian in appearance, resembling dinosaurs in their shape and bio-structure. They had long tails and stood up on two legs like the famed dinosaur raptors of the prehistoric age. But they lacked the trademark big toe-claws on their feet and were not carnivorous unlike the raptor. They were omnivorous and had a code of honour stating that they never eat sentient life forms whenever they fancied a bit of meat. Their uniforms consisted of battle armour that could protect them against many different types of lasers and a head piece that could transform into a helmet for battle. The officers carried out their scans, aiming sophisticated devices at the crew and scanning them all in one single sweep. Their scanners were built to scan multiple people at once given how large the Chaser crew was. It was necessary for in case they missed one during the scanning. The crew members of every vessel in the fleet all came out clean. The security measures weren't needed anymore. The dinosaur-like creatures put their scanners away and the leader of the officers stepped toward. His helmet wasn't deployed, revealing his scaly red head and thick snout full of plant and meat eating teeth like all omnivores had. He had a blind right eye and a hideous, yellow scar that ran through it. His strong body and big muscles suggested he was an alien who was used to fighting and had been in many battles in his time.

"Welcome home Chasers." he said, his voice gruff yet friendly sounding, "It's great to see you all back in one piece."

"Thanks General Scar." Torque said brightly.

"It's distressing to see you in a bad state though captain." Scar said sympathetically, taking note of Torque's battered state, "I guess Lord Brevon gave you a bit of a beating."

"He did, but it's a bit more than that." Torque admitted, "And speaking of Brevon…we have a present for you."

He then motioned over to Terra, Olaf, Violet and Damian, who all stepped forward with the handcuffed Serpentine in front of them and the hover-bed containing Brevon's corpse just behind them. They stepped aside, allowing the hover-bed to float forwards and display its grisly contents to the security officers. Many of the Chasers cringed just staring at the body as it was displayed before the officers. Scar and his entire crew gasped in disbelief. Lord Brevon was lying there before them, completely nude with a gaping hole in his chest and his eyes tightly closed! He was clearly dead but it still surprised them to see this. To make doubly sure this wasn't a trick, Scar whipped out his scanning device and ran it over Brevon's body. It was no trick. It really was the evil, nefarious, world-conquering warlord's real body. His real DEAD body that is. Scar still couldn't believe his eyes. What in the name of the galaxy had Torque's crew done to him?! He could understand the hole in his chest but why was he naked? He hadn't imagined the Chasers could be that brutal.

"Did you do this?!" he blustered.

"No general. It was the Avalician Dragon Girl who stopped Brevon the first time." the crew captain replied.

"I didn't think that Avalicians were this savage!" Scar cried, "What was she trying to do? Rip his heart out?!"

"No general, it's a bit more colourful than that." Torque said, "Do you want me to explain now or wait until the meeting with the High Officer?"

"I think we should wait until the meeting." Scar suggested, "I bet the High Officer will be very pleased to see this...even if it's a grisly sight."

"Given how we've been trying to defeat Lord Brevon for years, he will be." the green-skinned alien remarked, "Let's tell him that we've returned and then show him the good news."

"Yes indeed captain. Oh, and I see that you've captured General Serpentine too." the dinosaur-like security general noted, glaring over at the cyber-snake who was handcuffed and standing in front of Terra.

"Yeah, we managed to capture him and the entire crew of a ship that managed to sneak past our fleet and get onto Avalice." Torque explained.

"We'll escort them all to the cells general." Violet chipped in, "We'll make sure they don't try anything stupid while we're taking them away."

"You do that Chasers." Scar said briskly, "Torque on the other hand, you may come with us to the High Officer so we can show him Brevon's deceased body."

"As you wish general." the commander replied.

Scar and his men walked out of the hangar bay with Torque following them on his hover-bed. The bed with Brevon's body followed them also, hovering close behind Torque as if the two hover-beds were magically linked together. The alien Chaser was already beginning to imagine how the meeting with the High Officer would go. He waved to his team mates as they watched him leave with the security officers. They waved back and the moment Torque and the officers had left, they immediately got set on releasing the prisoners so they could lock them up again in Coalition HQ's highly secure prison block. The cells had the same technology as the cells on their ships, meaning escape was impossible without outside help. But there was more to it than that. The cells could ONLY be opened by the security officers or any of the Chasers. Even outside help would have trouble getting into those cells. Serpentine of course, knew this all too well for he knew just how hi-tech the Chasers were. But he wasn't worried in the slightest. He had called for help and his help would be more than enough to get him free. He wondered who would be coming. His mother? His father? Both? All he knew was that at least one of them would be coming. He allowed himself to be taken away, once again by Terra, to his cell. The she-alien jabbed him in the back with a laser pistol, the same one she'd used earlier to make him cooperate, and made him slither forwards. Damian, Olaf and Violet watched as Terra escorted Serpentine away. They turned around and walked back into their ship to get the rest of Brevon's crew that they'd captured earlier.

"What a day hey guys?" Damian exclaimed, "We stop Brevon from invading Avalice yesterday and now today we wake up to not only capture the entire crew of a single ship and we hear that Brevon's dead!"

"I'm honestly tempted to say that this is the best day of the Chaser's lives!" Violet squealed.

"That depends if every Chaser has the same view or not dear Violet." Olaf noted matter-of-factly.

"It's just an expression Mr. Literal!" Damian snorted, "Seriously dude, do you not know a metaphor when you see one?"

"Obviously not as metaphors are heard and not seen." Olaf retorted, "I happen to be well-educated young Damian, something that you sonny, are not."

"Are you calling me stupid?!"

"I'd prefer to use a more sophisticated term such as "lower intelligence than average" sonny Jim."

"OK that's it! You're going down old man!"

"I highly doubt your lesser intellect can top mine Damian."

"If you two don't stop bickering then so help me I'm gonna thrash you both!" Violet snapped, "Seriously you two, can't you go one single day without arguing?!"

"Actually, it was approximately one day and forty hours since me and Damian last had a squabble." the elder Chaser noted.

"Stop being so literal for damn's sake!" the young cadet shouted.

"Aye-yi-yi...men..." Violet sighed, storming off into the ship to get the prisoners and leaving Damian and Olaf to squabble some more.

Some day the two would stop this nonsense and actually get along for once. It was something she longed to see and something she was sure that Torque wanted to see too. Their bickering was going to get them in trouble one day...and she knew it. If they didn't learn to get along soon then the Chasers could be in big trouble. Little did she know...was that trouble was coming already...and was going to happen shortly...

* * *

Torque and the security team reached the top of the space center, journeying up there via a fast-moving elevator that whisked them up to the top in mere seconds. It always made the Chaser feel good that he and his men had such great technology. He couldn't imagine life without it. As soon as the elevator reached its destination, Torque and the security team walked down a long corridor that led to the meeting room. Scar placed his hand against a panel on the side of the door and waited as the panel scanned his hand print. He saw the green scanner bar run up and down his hand, registering who it was and running through a quick scan to see if it was an authorized personnel. The scan finished and the door opened up. The reptilian general stepped first into the room with Torque just behind him. The rest of Scar's men waited outside with Brevon's body, waiting for the right time to bring it in. Torque had requested as such, wanting it to be a surprise. The room that Scar and Torque had entered as a huge, circular room with a domed roof shielding them from the outside world. They would see through the dome for it was transparent and the two allowed a brief moment to admire the view outside. The colourful vortex of colours behind the space station still looked as striking as it did the last hundred times they had seen it. If there was a perfect place to have set up base, it would be here with a beautiful view to admire every-time one walked into the room. They turned their attention back onto the room itself. There was a circle of chairs with many different aliens sitting at them. In the middle of the circle was one of the strangest creatures ever to exist in the alien world.

This man in the centre of the circle was the founder of the Coalition of Planets himself, the High Officer of the Coalition. The people sitting on the chairs and talking to him were the members of his council and they were deep in conversation. The High Officer looked truly bizarre, tall and thin with four tentacles that acted as feet for him and a huge upper-body that gave everybody the pretence that he was a huge, muscular man. He want's, he was merely wearing armour. The armour was deliberately bulky looking to give people the wrong idea about him and think of him as huge, powerful and dangerous. He was powerful and dangerous if he had to be but he wasn't huge. His armour was a bulky piece of torso armour with equally as bulky arms and hands. His head was the strangest feature on him. He was completely bald with not a single thread of hair or even some kind of structure such as antennae or spikes. He had four faces, one on each side of his head. All four of his faces had two yellow eyes and thin lips that looked as if they'd been drawn on each face with a pencil. When he spoke, all four of his mouths moved at once and his eight eyes all blinked simultaneously. It was impossible to do anything without him knowing about it. He could see in literally every direction. This made conversations with the council very easy. If somebody wanted to talk to him, he never had to turn around. He could stand there and talk with the face on the back or sides of his head. All four of his faces were deadpan and expressionless. He was a man who felt as if emotions were a waste of time and preferred not to experience them.

"So tell me Tegan, how goes the battle with Brevon's forces over your world?" the High Officer asked, his left face glancing at a purple, female lizard like creature in a business suit and wearing odd looking glasses with black lens. It was as if she didn't want anybody to see her eyes.

"My armies are fighting valiantly sir." Tegan replied, her voice clipped and boring, "They should have Brevon's forces pushed back sooner or later."

"That is good to hear my lady." the Coalition founder said, his voice carrying very little enthusiasm.

"It's amazing how much easier it is to defeat him since his reputation was ruined by that Avalice planet!" cried an overweight, blue coloured alien who looked like he spent every day of his life eating far more than he needed, "It's like Brevon's forces are too embarrassed to fight us!"

"I'm still quite amazed that a primitive world like Avalice was the world to finally beat him." said a rather uppity woman who looked like a bizarre hybrid between a bird and a rhinoceros. She had wings and a slender frame like a bird but had skin and horns like a rhino. She was very pompous and very vain, seeing all worlds as inferior to hers. Nobody on the council liked her and the High Officer secretly wanted to replace her.

"Given how that world has very little tech from what we've been informed, I still cannot believe that Avalice is where Brevon met his first defeat." she added, looking very unimpressed.

"Don't you use that tone at us Gali." growled the overweight alien, "If Avalice is the world that defeated Brevon then it's obviously not so primitive!"

"I hardly believe that I am inclined to listen to the words of an obese man such as yourself Flabbergaster." Gali sniffed.

"Maybe you'll listen to my fists instead?!" Flabbergaster growled.

"That is quite enough you two." the High Officer said sternly, "These meetings are meant to be civil and friendly, not a place for pointless quarrelling."

"Hey sir, excuse me a minute." Tegan suddenly chipped in, raising her hand, "Sorry to interrupt but, it seems that we've got visitors."

The eyes on the front face of the High Officer looked up from his council members and he saw that Torque was lying on a hover-bed with General Scar beside him. He was surprised to see the two here. He had been so busy with the meeting that he hadn't even seen them enter. He cleared his throat, which given his four faces he had four of, and the council members turned in their seats to greet the Chaser commander.

"Commander Torque. What a pleasant surprise this is." the High Officer announced, his voice still blunt despite the fact he was addressing a big name member of the coalition, "I take it your mission to Avalice has gone well?"

"It has indeed High Officer." Torque said, sitting up slightly as his bed carried him towards the council, "We managed to destroy much of Brevon's fleet, including his flagship, yesterday and my battle mech managed to send Brevon himself scurrying away with his tail between his legs. Avalice is safe."

"That's excellent news captain." Tegan said, sounding more enthusiastic than the council's head himself, "After all, we owe that world much for helping to ruin Brevon's reputation and inspire more races to join our cause."

"And how is Lord Brevon?" asked the High Officer, "Is he still at large?"

"Thankfully...no." the Chaser replied, "We have a surprise for you council. Here it is..."

Right on cue, the security officers walked into the room with Brevon's dead body. The hideous corpse was carried over to the council by the hover-bed it lay upon. The moment everybody saw the body, the council leapt out of their seats in disbelief and the High Officer's front eyes widened in surprise. It was the first time Torque had seen him display any emotion that wasn't a straight face in his life. The council could hardly believe what they were seeing. Lord Brevon! Dead! Brought before them as evidence! They never thought that such a day would ever come.

"I don't believe it!" Tegan exclaimed.

"You better believe it! Lord Brevon's bit the dust at last!" Flabbergaster cried, his fat cheeks wobbling wildly as he spoke.

"How do we know this isn't a trick commander?" Gali accused, "Are you sure this is the real thing and not just some very clever fake?"

"Before you get snippy with us Gali, I scanned the body and the scans register as 100% positive. This is indeed Lord Brevon." Scar retorted, "Dead and mangled yes but still him."

"How did you do this?" the High Officer said, his voice quiet and almost frightened.

"I didn't do it." Torque explained, "Remember that Avalician Dragon Girl I told you about? Lilac? You remember?"

"I do. I was rather surprised when you gave me the news..." the four-faced alien mused.

"Well she did it sir. Brevon managed to sneak onto Avalice and he tried to use an evil gem known as the Dark Stone to destroy the planet." the alien crew captain announced, "He managed to use it and he turned into a monster with it. The stone ended up in his chest and Lilac had to destroy the stone to stop him. But...she ended up killing him in the process. That's why he's naked and has a hole in his chest. It's the honest truth sir, every bit of it."

The High Officer nodded, accepting Torque's story. It was unbelievable he admitted but he had seen enough of the galaxy to believe the unbelievable. In his eyes, there was no such thing as "unbelievable" anymore, not in a galaxy this vast and expansive. There was only surprise. He once again glanced over at Brevon's dead body, eyeing the hole in his chest. There was no other way that could've been caused. It served him right for playing with what was supposedly a dangerous artefact. He had, in a way, given Lilac a big bullseye to exploit. And now it had led to his death, a death that the High Officer had been hoping to hear about for years. It seemed that he'd finally gotten his wish.

"Well commander, this is an amazing story...and a happy one no less." he said bluntly, his face back to its usual stoic nature, "Our greatest and most powerful enemy is finally dead. Now we no longer need to fear him and the galaxy will be much safer without him. This Lilac person deserves our deepest gratitude. If you ever see her again, tell her that the Coalition of Planets is indebted to her for ridding us of our worst enemy."

"I will sir." Torque promised, "Thanks sir."

The High Officer smiled a small smile at Torque. It was the closest he ever came to showing signs of happiness, pleasure or anything along those lines. Deep inside though, he felt happier than he'd ever felt in all his life. Unfortunately, the happiness was shattered by Gali suddenly yelling a single curse word and making everybody jump.

"Gali!" the face on his left side snapped, "We don't use language like that in here!"

"Do you seriously believe this nonsense?!" the rhino-bird creature retorted, "You SERIOUSLY believe for a minute that Lord Brevon, the biggest enemy the galaxy has EVER faced and the man who has slain thousands of heroes all under our names, was defeated by a mere child?! An AVALICIAN child need I remind you?! Avalice is a primitive world full of unstable peace and filthy little animals that barely qualify as "life"! Heck, they need a silly little gem to keep their world alive! You don't seriously believe for a minute that our worst enemy was slain by one of those unworthy creatures do you?!"

"Gali, shame on you!" Tegan snapped back, "That world was the very reason that we even managed to score back against Brevon! That planet ruined his reputation and inspired others to take part in our crusade against him! Why is his death at the hands of an Avalician so hard to buy?!"

"Because it's clearly not how he died!" Gali shouted, holding up her fingers beside her head as if framing what she had to say, "There's no way in the hell of this galaxy that a simple-minded cretin like those Avalicians could possibly have killed somebody like Lord Brevon! Torque is clearly making up a ridiculous story to glorify that planet in a feeble attempt to justify why we should waste our time protecting that miserable excuse for a planet!"

"How dare you!" Torque growled, ignoring the pain in his injured body, "How dare you even suggest something like that! I would never make up stories for any reason at all! Avalice is not primitive, it isn't home to filthy little animals and the planet isn't a miserable excuse for one! Avalice is a wonderful planet and the people of Avalice are very honourable people, especially Lilac the Dragon Girl!"

"Yeah!" Flabbergaster added, "So you can take your stupid-ass claims and shove them up your ass lady!"

"How dare you talk to me like that you unworthy creature!" Gali snarled.

"Ladies, gentlemen! That is quit enough inane squabbling!" the High Officer barked, all four of his mouths shouting out the words from all four sides.

The council was quick to fall silent the moment the High Officer shouted. They all knew that they didn't dare make him any angrier. They had seen what happened to those who made him flip his lid. A brief silence followed before the High Officer continued.

"Gali, your tone was unwarranted and you was out of line." he said firmly, "There is no reason at all to disbelieve the Captain of the Chaser's story at all. Torque is not the type who dwells in skulduggery. He is always honest and truthful and therefore, you have no right to ridicule his claims."

"But..."

"NOT. ANOTHER. WORD." the left face snapped angrily, "Your prejudiced behavior has been tolerated for far too long. We will not tolerate it anymore Gali. You are hereby relieved of your councillor duties."

"In other words lady, you're fired!" Scar sneered, pleased to finally get the chance to say those words.

Torque and the other councillors smirked at her. Finally, the vain and pompous witch was getting what she deserved! Gali should've been fired a long time ago for her wretched attitude and now she was getting what she asked for. The rhino-bird alien gasped in horror at the High Officer, unable to believe what she had heard. She was getting the sack?! How could the ungrateful bastard do this to her?! And after all the hard work she'd served for the Coalition of Planets too! She gritted her teeth and glared at her superior. She wasn't taking this injustice lying down.

"You can't fire me sir! I'm the reason this space station exists!" she protested, "It was my people who built it remember! Without them, you wouldn't even have a base to live in!"

"Not exactly." the High Officer retorted, "Some other species, maybe one that has more of a heart than you do, would've built this place if we hadn't come to you. Now get out of here Gali. You are not welcome here anymore. If you dare come back here, if you dare to betray us and sell us out to the enemy...then you'll have me to worry about. And I do not take ignorance or treachery lightly."

Gali was going to argue some more, Torque could tell. The anger on the alien's leathery face was unmistakeable. And yet Gali restrained herself and breathed heavily. She looked up with defiant eyes but argued no more. She turned on her heels and walked on out the door with General Scar following her to make sure she left the base like she should be doing. The moment the two left the room, the councillors sat back down in their chairs, pleased to see the end of Gali at last. Flabbergaster seemed happier than the others, which wasn't surprising given their life-long rivalry that had been carried out since the day they'd first met. Now the storm had been cleared away, the High Officer looked back over at Torque.

"Contrary to our former councillor Gali, we believe your story." he announced kindly, "There is no evidence to disprove your story and given your inability to deceive, there is no reason to distrust you. Because of Brevon's death, Avalice is more than worthy of our protection and we'll be all too happy to dispatch our resources to protect it whenever it needs our help."

"I assure you my grand leader, my friends on Avalice would be more than happy to hear you say those words." Torque said brightly.

"Friends, yes...I remember you telling me that you befriended three of the planet's locals, one of them being this dragon girl who defeated Brevon and has now gone on to kill him." the High Officer muttered, "Do they return your friendship at all?"

"Oh yes, especially Lilac." the Chaser responded, "Me and Lilac have formed quite a bond together sir. I...I hope you don't mind this."

The four faces of the High Officer were grim and stern looking but showed no signs of disapproval. The front fact's eyes narrowed thoughtfully before speaking.

"It is perfectly fine to form friendships with other life forms." he declared, "After all, we're protecting worlds from evil like Brevon and his forces. Why not form friendships with those we protect? It'll make them more thankful to us for our cause."

"I second that." Tegan chipped in.

"I third it!" Flabbergaster cried.

"That's good sir." Torque said brightly.

"But at the same time commander, we cannot become TOO attached to the locals of the worlds we protect. Otherwise...we lose sight of what our purpose is and become too attached to one world." the High Officer added, "The entire galaxy deserves our attention, not just one planet."

The Chaser's face fell, disappointed to hear this from his leader. He supposed he should've known he would say that though given his disapproval of emotions, including love. His love for Lilac was doomed to fail now. He wasn't allowed to form attachments to the locals. He had broken the rules by becoming infatuated with Lilac. He should never have fallen for her, he should never have kissed her! And yet it felt wrong that he was chastising himself for doing so. Why was love so complicated and why was his job so conflicting all of a sudden?! He would never have become a Chaser had he known that this was going to happen. The High Officer raised an eyebrow, noticing Torque's rather disappointed expression.

"Is there something troubling you commander?" he asked, a genuine tone of concern in his voice.

"Nothing sir, I'm just a little sore from the beating I got from Brevon back on Avalice." Torque lied, "Can I go and rest now?"

"Certainly. You deserve it for all your hard work." the High Officer said kindly, "You saved Avalice by chasing away Brevon's forces and in a way, helped Lilac to kill him. You rest well commander. We'll have you back on duty the moment you've recovered."

"Thanks sir." the Chaser said graciously, "And what are you gonna do with Brevon's body?"

"Dispose of it." the High Officer announced, "Jettison it into space where it belongs. Tegan, would you care to take the body down to the airlock on the bottom floor and sent his body into space?"

"My pleasure sir." the lizard like woman said with a bow.

She got up out of her seat and headed over to the hover-bed with Brevon's dead body on it. She touched a sensor panel on the side of the bed, effectively commanding it to follow her. She walked out of the room with the corpse following her out of it. Torque watched the body leave the room, knowing that this was the last time he would ever see Brevon. With nothing else to stay for, Torque left the room in his hover-bed and headed off to the medical bay to rest. He was still a little saddened at what the High Officer had said. He wasn't allowed to be in love with Lilac. He couldn't have a relationship with her. And that would mean he would have to be more distant from her the next time they met. That would break her heart though and Torque couldn't bear the thought of doing that to his friend. Not after all she'd done for him and his crew. How could he make this work with Lilac? And how could he live with himself, knowing that he couldn't be in love with her since it broke all the rules in the book...?

* * *

"Whew, it took a while but that's all of them all locked away at last." Terra said, wiping her forehead.

The next few minutes had just been spent putting away the imprisoned robots and aliens that all served Lord Brevon's cause. Terra and the rest of the Chasers had done a lot of running to and fro in order to achieve this given how they had a lot of prisoners to put away. They were all locked up in cells just like the ones on the flagship. The force field "doors" were activated, meaning that there was nowhere for the imprisoned villains to go and no way out for them. It didn't surprise Serpentine on how much the same this cell blockade looked to the one on the Chaser flagship. Cell blockades always looked the same no matter which part of the galaxy you were in. Four walls, rows of cells, dull lighting and low ceilings. It was the same everywhere. It gave off the impression that all cell blockades were designed by the same architect no matter what building he or she had been designing them for. They had certainly done their jobs right since all cell blockades looked and felt the same way: boring. Serpentine stared up at the ceiling of his cell, sighing as Terra continued to rub it in his face on how he and the surviving crew of the ship that had managed to sneak onto Avalice were now prisoners. Why were Chasers so fond of pontificating whenever things went their way? They wouldn't be gloating for long when his parents arrived though…

"It would've been done quicker if Damian and Olaf weren't too busy bickering as usual though." Violet muttered, glaring over at the scientist and cadet, who were frowning at each other.

"Olaf started it!" Damian whined.

"I hardly see how I'm the one who started off the bickering sonny." Olaf snorted, "You're the one who decided to take a shot at me for no reason."

"You started it you big nerd!"

"No, you did my dim-witted friend."

"Ooooh I'll show you what dim-witted is!"

"OK we get it, you two really hate each other! SHUT UP ALREADY!" Terra screamed angrily at the two boys.

Damian and Olaf glared at each other one last time before turning their heads away from each other and folding their arms, refusing to look at each other any longer. The turquoise alien sighed in annoyance. Why was it so hard to get those two idiots to get along? They were always arguing for some reason and it was getting very irritating. Why couldn't Damian and Olaf be more like her and Torque? They got along just fine! And Violet got along with them too! She supposed that it'd be a little harder for Damian and Olaf as they were very different in terms of interests and personality. She just hoped they'd put aside their differences and be friends with each other for once.

"I swear if those two bicker again, I'm gonna throw them out the airlock!" Terra sighed, rubbing her temples.

"Yeah, that would shut em' up wouldn't it?" Violet muttered.

"Shut up permanently that is…" the turquoise alien snickered.

"Yeah, I get ya sister." the violet alien chuckled.

"Anyway, at least we got all the bad boys locked away." Terra said casually, "Now we can just relax and wait for our next adventure. Which hopefully won't be too far away."

"I'll say! I love a good adventure with lots of action and cool stuff happening!" Damian exclaimed gleefully.

"I myself would rather get back to the quieter life." Olaf said dully.

"Well you can do just that if you want buddy." Terra said brightly, "After all, with Brevon gone, it's gonna be a while before the entire crew's needed again."

"And I'm glad about that." Violet said, her sweet smile spreading across her face, "I prefer the space-faring kind of action as opposed to warfare."

"I hear ya." the purple-armoured alien said, smiling, "Well, now we've done that, let's see how Torque's meeting with the High Officer's going. That is, if it's still going."

"I wonder what he thinks to the fact this Lilac chick did Brevon in." Damian murmured.

That was something they were soon going to find out. Terra, Violet, Olaf and Damian all walked out of the cell blockade to meet the High Officer and see how things were going. As they left the room, the imprisoned robots and aliens all began banging on their force field doors, trying feebly to escape from their cells. But the fields held, making buzzing noises as they were hit. Not even the strongest alien in the galaxy could break out of a cell like that. The force field would even hold back a bomb attack if such an assault was carried out. Serpentine knew this and that was why he wasn't even bothering to break out. He knew that help was on its way anyway and his scaly lips twisted into a smile as he thought about it.

"We're gonna be outta here…sooner than you think Chasers…" Serpentine purred to himself…

* * *

Meanwhile, Gali was jetting away from Coalition HQ as fast as her ship could carry her. Her ship was a long, sleek, purple vessel that looked very wealthy and luxurious in its smooth shape and curves. The ex-councillor had been escorted down to the hangar bay by General Scar and ordered to leave in her ship immediately. She was never to come back again now she was banished from the council. She would return to her home planet and stay there for the rest of her life. Not that it bothered her since she liked her planet very much and would gladly die there if she had to. It was just a pity that she wouldn't be able to fight for it now she was kicked out of the Coalition. The rhino-bird like woman muttered to herself as she left the HQ behind. With nobody around, she was free to rant as much as she liked and being inside her ship, nobody could hear her.

"Stupid, short-sighted morons…" she grumbled, "How could they do this to me?! And after all I've done for those idiots too?! I'm the reason their headquarters exist! I donated much of my resources to their cause! And this is how they repay me?! By kicking me out for rightfully doubting the ridiculous story of their precious Chaser Commander?!"

Gali thumped the control panel of her ship in rage. It made her boil with anger just thinking about the injustice of it all. She would make them sorry they fired her! She would take away all the resources the donated to them and even order Coalition HQ to be closed down and destroyed! It was her property so she had every right to decide what happens to it. They wouldn't be able to stop her.

"They'll pay for this…all of them!" Gali declared, "Even that empty-headed, four-faced freak of a leader I had the misfortune of serving!"

Her rants were suddenly cut off as she saw something appear from nowhere in front of her eyes. One minute there had been nothing and the next minute, now there was something. A fleet of ships all jumping out of hyperspace and appearing together in a line. What were they? Gali decided to venture closer to see what they were. She soon recognized the ships as they came into view. They all looked like a swarm of flying cobra heads with jet engines and narrow cockpit windows that looked like the visor of a hi-tech helmet. They were cyber-snake ships! Gali gulped nervously. She knew the cyber-snakes very well. Brevon's right-hand man was one for starters. She also knew that they were horrible people who pillaged the galaxy and used their prodigious tech to cause chaos everywhere they went. They'd be gunning for her if she wasn't careful. They had every reason to attack a woman of her stature.

"Oh great…cyber-snakes!" Gali moaned, "I'd better get out of here before they take a shot at me!"

But before she could steer her vessel away from the approaching fleet, she suddenly received a call on her control panel. There was a deep, smooth voice emitting from the speakers. The fleet wanted to talk to her it seemed.

"Let me guess…off home are you Councillor Gali?" the voice purred, its tone almost mocking.

"Get lost Steeljaw!" the leather-skinned, winged alien snarled, "I haven't got time to deal with you right about now! I've just been fired from my position as councillor and sent home in disgrace! I can't be bothered to fight you off so leave me alone!"

"Oh you've got me all wrong dear." Steeljaw declared, "It's not you I'm after. I'm here to rescue my son, Serpentine from the clutches of the Coalition of Planets."

Gali was astonished.

"How the heck did you…?" she began.

"Details, details my dear." the cyber-cobra dismissed, "But given you've been fired and all, I'd like to make you and your very impressive horns, a proposition…"

* * *

 _ **Oh dear...Steeljaw has arrived and he's meeting face-to-face with a fired councillor! This cannot go well at all...**_

 _ **Tune in next time as we bear witness to the "Assault on HQ"...**_


	3. Chapter 3: Assault on HQ

_Chapter 3: The Assault on HQ_

Gali had no idea that she would end up in a position like the one she was in now. Fired from her seat due to her prejudiced behaviour and now she was making deals with a cyber-snake. But not just any cyber-snake for that matter, the KING of the cyber-snakes himself! Never before had the rhino-bird like alien thought that such a time would come that this would happen. And yet it was happening right now, almost unbelievably. She was in her ship, flying off back home to her home planet and swearing revenge on the Coalition of Planets for firing her and had run into Steeljaw and his fleet of cyber-snakes. They were here to save Serpentine but the king had decided to make Gali a proposition. A proposition that she couldn't refuse. She had been swearing vengeance on her former councillors a moment ago so despite herself, she listened as Steeljaw gave her his proposition.

"You've been fired from your seat." he said, his voice almost sympathetic as he spoke, "And why is that then?"

"Well, Torque and his fleet of Chasers arrived back from Avalice to give us some news." Gali said slowly, "You see…Lord Brevon is dead apparently. And for some reason, Torque expects me to believe that some scrawny Avalician child did it."

"Well of course Torque expects you to believe it, because you have no reason to doubt him you silly girl." Steeljaw snorted, "My son told me all about that world and how the occupants of the planet were strong enough to take out his mechs and even a mutated form that Brevon gave him. I found it hard to believe but my son wouldn't lie to me now would he?"

"I'd have thought snakes would lie to anybody, even their own kind…"

"Well if the people of Avalice can destroy his best mechs then I sincerely see no reason to believe that they could kill Lord Brevon, especially since Brevon himself was beaten and sent packing by one. Serpentine told me all about that too."

"I gathered." muttered Gali, "But anyway, I was sceptical to believe the commander's story and the High Officer ended up firing me! ME! How could he do this to me when most of the resources they have are because of me?!"

"Sounds pretty unfair I'm sure…" Steeljaw purred in a voice with a faux tone of sympathy, "Which is why I propose this. You help us rescue my son…and we'll help you get revenge on the Coalition of Planets for firing you. I assume that is what you want right?"

Gali hesitated. On the one hand, she did want revenge on the Coalition of Planets. On the other hand, she couldn't be making deals with cyber-snakes. They couldn't be trusted. She knew how cunning and devious they were and how often they'd break their deals. But what choice did she have? She couldn't say no or Steeljaw would just blast her to pieces here and now. And besides, who cared what happened to the stupid Coalition? They didn't give a damn about her! They got rid of her when they had no reason to! They deserved to be obliterated for their ingratitude. So overall, the leather-skinned woman knew that this was an offer she couldn't really refuse. She certainly wasn't going to die and let the Coalition live. They deserved to die before her. Smiling grimly, Gali glanced down at her speakers.

"It is what I want Steeljaw…" she said, her voice soft and menacing.

"So do you accept my deal?" the king cobra asked hopefully.

"I do." Gali replied, "I want revenge, you want your son back. There's no reason why I should refuse."

"I'm glad you see it my way my dear…"

"So we're agreed then?"

"Absolutely."

"Then let us begin…"

On the other side of her speakers, Steeljaw grinned a steely grin to himself. How easily these short-sighted politicians were to influence! It was almost humiliating that they were this easy to corrupt. Thank goodness the monarchy back on Vipos wasn't this pathetic! Nobody could ever sway a person of great power on Vipos. That was probably because snakes were notorious for following their kings and queens very loyally despite their slimy nature and reputation as deceivers and liars. But Steeljaw didn't complain for a minute about any of this. It was good that Gali had been influenced so easily. This flaccid yet promising woman could be very useful to him in his plan to rescue Serpentine. And the fact she'd confirmed to him that Lord Brevon was dead had given him more ideas. Inquisitively, he decided to learn more about his son's leader's recent demise. Given how Brevon was the reason he was even a cyborg snake right now, the warlord's death was meaningful to him and in a way, a heavy loss.

"So tell me Gali, you said that Brevon was dead right? What's his state?" the cobra asked.

"He's completely…ahem, nude and he has a hole in his chest." explained Gali, "Torque told me and the others that the dragon girl he refers to as "Lilac" did that to him. He used some kind of gem to become a monster according to Torque and the gem was in his chest. Lilac supposedly destroyed said gem and that killed him."

"I see…who knew that Avalice was a planet to worry about?" Steeljaw crooned, "Have they disposed of the body yet?"

"They should be getting rid of it anytime soon…" the ex-councillor murmured, "Why? What good will it do you? He's dead."

"I just want to give him a proper burial that's all." the smooth-talking cyber-snake purred, "He deserves better than to rot in space."

 _Not in my eyes…_ Gali thought to herself.

"OK then." she said out loud, "We'll retrieve his body while we rescue your son. But you better promise me that after we rescue Serpentine, you, your wife and he will NOT go anywhere near my world! If you don't promise that then you're on your own. Is that understood?"

"Perfectly my dear." Steeljaw lied, "Now then, tell us everything you know about Coalition HQ so we can begin the operation…"

* * *

Over on Coalition HQ, Tegan had taken Brevon's body down onto the bottom floor of the huge space station and was now heading over to a nearby airlock to jettison Brevon's unwanted corpse out into space where he would rot and never be seen again. She glanced over at the hideous body on the hover bed behind her and smiled grimly. How wonderful it was to be seeing Lord Brevon dead at long last! Now her world and all other worlds would never have to fear the alien warlord's tyranny again. They would be safe and in total harmony at last. It was true that some of Brevon's army still remained but without a leader, they'd be like a hive of bees with no queen. Directionless and unfocused. They wouldn't be as big a threat now their leader was gone.

"I never thought I'd see the day where Lord Brevon bites the dust." the lizard-woman remarked to herself, "And yet here we are, still alive and staring at Brevon's ugly carcass. My world will be so happy to hear about this."

She then approached an airlock which was located on the left side of the corridor. It had a huge wheel that was used to open the door and some warning stripes painted around the sides. Tegan knew full well that an airlock was dangerous and only meant to be used on certain occasions. One wrong move could jettison her and anybody near her out into space and from then on, they would be introduced to the most agonizing death imaginable. It was a death not even worth thinking about. But Tegan knew how to use the airlock safely. She pressed a button beside the door and waited for it to open. The doors slid open, revealing a small space inside and another set of doors that once opened, would welcome in the vacuum of space. Tegan stood by as the hover-bed carried Brevon's body into the airlock and then proceeded to tip him off, just as she'd instructed it to. The bed tilted sideways and Brevon's body slid off onto the floor. The hover-bed then emerged from inside the airlock and Tegan closed the first set of doors. Once they were shut, she pressed another button. This one opened the second set of doors. She could see them sliding open through the windows of the first doors. Once the second doors had opened, Brevon's body was quickly whisked out of the airlock and into the endless void of space beyond. She watched the ugly corpse spin away into the black, starry mass, never to be seen again. As the second doors closed, Tegan smiled to herself.

"Goodbye forever you monster…" she said.

With her job done, she turned and walked away…

* * *

Lord Brevon's body had been catapulted a good few yards away from Coalition HQ before coming to a halt and now doing nothing but floating aimlessly like a stone in water. It was a gruesome sight, seeing a dead body just floating in space like this. It looked like a scene from a sci-fi horror movie, only this was no movie scene. It was very real and anybody who saw the sickening sight wouldn't want to believe their own eyes. This was the worst sort of grave for the monstrous, green-skinned, tyrannical alien. Floating endlessly and rotting away into nothing. If he was lucky, Brevon's body would just rot away and not end up worse for wear by anything that could possibly collide with it or do horrific damage to the already ravaged body. If Brevon could see what was becoming of his body now, he would be in total rage and horror.

But it seemed that his body wasn't going to loom in space forever. Steeljaw's ship had spotted the body and the king cobra was now steering the vessel towards it. The huge snake, shaped spaceship cruised silently towards Brevon's body as if ready to snatch him up and swallow him whole just to give the body something less horrible to go through. The ship stopped just in front of the body and the top door opened up. Steeljaw himself, wearing a breathing apparatus over his mouth, slithered out of the ship and swung his cyborg arms to propel himself towards Brevon. He could now see for himself just how much of a goner he was. Gali had described it to him and yet it was still fascinating to see the damage in person. The hole in Brevon's chest was clear and told Steeljaw everything he needed to know. He knew for certain that this Lilac person was not somebody to be taken lightly, being able to do this just by destroying a gem that had fused itself to his chest. The cobra puts his hands over the body, feeling how cold it was.

"Lord Brevon…whatever have they done to you?" he said sadly, "No matter though, you won't remain this way my lord. The inspiration for the cyber-snakes will not be gone forever. We'll patch you up nicely and then bring you back alive my lord. That we can do…"

Cackling deviously, Steeljaw grabbed hold of Brevon's arm by wrapping his tail around it. He made sure the blade on his tail didn't leave any cuts as his tail curved around. He didn't want to damage the corpse anymore than it had been. Now he had the corpse, Steeljaw swung his arms and propelled himself back towards his ship with the graceful sweep of an Olympic swimmer. He was very well trained in traversing through zero gravity. Valka herself had even taught him how to do it. Space was no obstacle for the cyborg cobra. He soared gently back over to his ship and he carried Brevon's body over to the latch in the top of the vessel. He lowered the body down, letting his tail unravel from around the dead alien's arm and he manoeuvred himself carefully towards the latch. He opened it up and then pulled himself down inside, grabbing Brevon's hand with one of his hands and dragging him inside. He closed the latch and removed his breathing apparatus. He now had Lord Brevon's body in his ship. How horrified would the Chasers be to learn that fact! They had their worst enemy's dead body and could revive him with their amazing technology! Technology that Brevon himself had invented and bestowed upon the Viperian race. It was amusing to think how much Brevon's shadow still loomed over the galaxy despite his recent demise. Even in death there was no escaping his wrath. Steeljaw grinned menacingly and then turned to one of his men.

"Preserve the body until we get home." he ordered, "We can do with the corpse being as fresh as possible. Judging by the appearance of him, he's been dead for at least a few hours. Let's not leave him rotting any longer."

The cyber-snake nodded and carried Brevon's body away by wrapping his tail around the corpse's cankles and dragging it off. Viperian ships were equipped with cryo-genic freezers for in case they needed to bring home any dead bodies and keep them fresh for revival. If a corpse decayed too much then even their best technology wouldn't revive any dead comrades they had. Brevon's body hadn't started rotting yet, he had only been dead since yesterday night. The cryo-genic freezer would keep him fresh enough for a revival. And the fresher the corpse was, the better the chances of resurrecting the dead. As soon as Brevon's body was taken away, Steeljaw slithered over to his seat and sat down, now taking control of his ship again. He pressed a button on the control panel and spoke into the intercom system.

"Attention troops, we have successfully retrieved Lord Brevon's body." he announced, "Now on to the primary objective. Storm the HQ and retrieve my son! Prince Serpentine is coming home with us!"

The fleet of Viperian ships all responded immediately and they began to fly towards Coalition HQ with Steeljaw in the lead. Gali was among them too, wanting to witness the carnage that Steeljaw and his men had planned for herself. It would serve the council right for firing her like this...

* * *

In the dome section of the base, Terra, Olaf, Damian and Violet had arrived after taking one of the lifts up to the council room. The whole trip had lasted seconds although Violet had ended up feeling a little queasy due to not being very used to moving very fast. Damian and Olaf had amazingly enough, managed to go the entire trip without an argument. Terra knew that it was only a matter of time before they were at each other's throats again. The four Chasers approached the High Officer, who was standing to attention as always and his left face was talking to Flabbergaster and two other councillors who had remained silent throughout the meeting earlier. One was a male scaly alien who despite his appearance, was not a reptile. The scales made him look that way. The other was a woman who had a furry body and large, innocent blue eyes. They were chatting to the High Officer too, wondering about what was going to happen now Gali was fired.

"Most of our resources did come from her after all." the furry woman noted, "Will we need to hand them all back to her?"

"Certainly not." the High Officer said sharply, "She contributed to the Coalition of Planets and as you know, any contribution to the coalition means that whatever it is, it belongs to the Coalition. She technically does not own anything she has contributed to our cause."

"Suppose she tries to take them all away?" asked the scaly alien.

"Then we just recreate them ourselves!" Flabbergaster announced, "It's quite simple really. The stuff we have because of her Royal Vainness ranges from weapons to engines and science equipment. We can replace all of that easily."

"A sound idea Flabbergaster." the High Officer said approvingly, "What do you think Armourhide and Artemis?"

"I'm in agreement sir." said the furry woman, Artemis.

"Me too." added Armourhide.

The High Officer was about to dismiss the meeting until he suddenly looked up and noticed that Terra, Violet, Damian and Olaf were in the room and waiting for their chance to say hello to him. His face was blank but he was pleased to see them even if he didn't show it.

"Why hello there lieutenant." the four-faced alien said briskly, "And hello to you too cadet, navigator and chief science officer. What brings you here then?"

"We just came to see how our friend Torque is." Terra announced, "Is the meeting over or something?"

"You just missed him dear." the High Officer said, shaking his head, a motion which briefly showed off the left and right faces as the huge bald head moved side to side, "He came in here, told us what happened to Brevon and showed us his body and has now gone to rest."

"Oh, OK then. Sorry we interrupted you sir." Terra said, blushing slightly.

"It's OK, you didn't interrupt anything too important."

"It sounded important to me...you were talking about resources and stuff."

"All you need to know is that Councillor Gali has been fired from her seat for prejudiced behaviour and for daring to doubt the honesty and the credibility of your commander's story."

The four Chasers took this news in and nodded slowly. They weren't at all sad to hear this at all. They didn't like Gali either. But Terra was a little angry inside. Nobody ever dared to call her best friend a liar and lived! But Gali was fired so she wouldn't be showing her ugly face around the headquarters again. She could relax.

"I can't say I'll miss that leather-skinned stuck-up..." Terra murmured.

"You can say that again." snorted Damian.

"I mean she actually DARED to call Torque a liar?!" Violet squealed, "How could she?! Torque's no liar at all! He couldn't lie if his life depended on it!"

"I'll say. When Torque delivers a testimony about a mission, he never delivers a false fact of any kind." Olaf agreed, "And even if you doubted Torque, you could ask Terra about what happened on Avalice. She went there too and was there when Brevon died."

"And I can assure you High Officer, whatever Torque told you is 100% true." Terra quickly declared, noticing that Olaf had made a good point, "How Brevon died, who killed him, everything. It's all true."

"I know it is, that's why I believed him and ignored Gali." the High Officer said kindly, "So do not worry little Terra, I do not distrust you or your commander in the slightest."

The turquoise alien smiled happily, pleased to hear that her superior believed them. He had no reason not to given the damage done to Brevon's body. Also he relied on the Chasers to keep the peace in the galaxy so distrusting them would undermine all of that. Why have a group of heroes to help you keep the peace and then distrust them? It just wasn't right and Gali had gotten what she deserved for doing so.

"Thank you sir." Terra said with a bow, "Oh and in case you're interested, all the prisoners are locked up now, including Serpentine."

"That's good news. And we'll make sure that they all stay where they are." the High Officer announced.

"I know. And what about Lord Gruesome? Where's his body now?"

"In space where it belongs. He'll be just left floating and rotting until there's nothing left of him now."

"Sweet!"

The very image of Brevon's body just floating in space and rotting into nothing was enough to please Terra immensely. She still remembered the terrible time where her beloved brother Phoenix had died. And at Brevon's very own hands no less. Her brother could rest in peace with the knowledge that Brevon was never, ever going to terrorize his sister or anybody else in the Chasers again.

Then suddenly, everybody leapt up into the air as an ear-splitting alarm blared through the entire base. Red lights flashed and the alarm wailed loudly. Violet covered her ears, wincing in protest against the sheer volume of the alarm. Damian and Olaf began searching around frantically, wondering what was happening. Terra stood frozen to the spot, unable to believe what was happening. An alarm? Sounding in Coalition HQ? How could this be?! Nobody but the Chasers knew where the base was! They couldn't possibly be under attack! But Terra soon found out that they indeed were under attack as General Scar's gruff voice boomed over the speaker systems.

"Red alert, red alert! Our location's been compromised!" he cried, "We have Viperians blasting their way into the hangar bay! They've torn through the doors and are destroying all our ships so they've got space to land!"

"WHAT?!" The High Officer's four faces all widened their individual eyes in surprise, "How can this be?! Nobody's supposed to know where we are accept our crew!"

"We don't know!" Scar replied, "But the Chasers need to get to the bottom floor now! The Viperians are going to overrun us!"

"We'll mobilize immediately! You and your men keep them at bay for the time being!"

"Yes sir!"

The intercom switched off and the High Officer's front mounted eyes now focused on the four Chasers before him.

"We have a situation and we need you all down at the hangar bay now!" he announced.

"We'll get right to it sir!" Terra said, saluting her superior, "But how can there by Viperians here?! How did they possibly find us?!"

"I bet Gali ratted us out!" Flabbergaster declared, "She must have sold us all out to the Viperians and brought them here to exact revenge on us!"

"But she just got fired...surely she wouldn't have had enough time to call the Viperians and bring them here?" Artemis noted, "And she hates those abominable reptiles as much as we do! They've ransacked her world as well as others! She'd have no reason to side with them!"

"It doesn't matter how they found us, they're not going to stay here!" the High Officer barked, "Chasers, mobilize and get down to the hangar bay immediately!"

"Will do sir!" Terra cried out, "We'll take them all out!"

She turned on her heels and ran off towards the lift with Violet, Damian and Olaf just behind her. Once they were in the lift, the doors closed and the female Chaser pressed the button for the hangar bay. The lift quickly whizzed the four down, traversing the entire base in mere seconds. Terra couldn't help but be annoyed at the timing of this attack. Trust the Viperians to pick NOW to attack! Torque wasn't battle-ready yet so they'd have to fight without him! And it seemed awfully coincidental that this whole thing was happening so soon after Brevon's death. Was this revenge for Brevon's death? Or was there more to this attack than met the eye...?

* * *

The sickening sound of bones crunching against metal was heard as one of General Scar's men was effortlessly tossed across the room like a baseball and sent flying into one of the Viperian ships that was parked nearby. It was a sound that Scar himself knew all too well. Many fights on the battlefield had made that sound pretty much as normal to him as the sound of his own breathing. He looked over at his stricken comrade and then turned back to continue firing on the unwelcome guests their secret base now had.

Steeljaw and his men had blasted the hangar doors open with their ships, which had firepower enough to total even the tallest building on any planet, and they had also destroyed many of the ships in the hangar bay so their own vessels had somewhere to park. Now the ships had landed, the Viperians had all slithered out of their vessels and were attacking the security personnel that were on duty in the hangar. It was lucky that a safety feature had been installed for this kind of danger. Whenever the doors were blasted to bits or broken away or if they didn't work properly, a force field would emit from force field generators built on either side of the frame and keep the vacuum out, preventing anybody from being sucked out into space while the doors were down. Unfortunately, that meant the cyber-snakes were free to stay. Scar's men fought bravely against the cyber-reptilian creatures, shooting at them and trying their best to score a hit on them. But the Viperians moves at great speeds, slithering and weaving out of the way with seemingly little effort. They were built for speed just like Serpentine before them was. Their cyber-enhancements did more than just make them extremely powerful. Steeljaw lashed out towards one of the security men and grabbed him by the neck with his powerful, metal hands. The dinosaur-esque creature squirmed in the cobra's grasp but it was no use. Steeljaw's grip was stronger than even the heaviest of clamps. He was strong enough to crush skulls with is bare hands. And that was exactly what he did now. Scar cried out in horror as one of his men's heads was flattened, blood spraying out behind and ahead of him as his skull was crushed. Some of the blood ended up splattering all over Steeljaw but the cobra seemed to relish this as if he was just having a pleasant shower. The headless man collapsed onto the floor, blood still pouring out of the stump where his head once was.

"Now that's what I call a good kill!" Steeljaw crowed.

"You're gonna pay for that you murdering psychopath!" Scar growled, aiming his gun at the cobra.

"Oh I highly doubt that…" the cyborg snake sneered, "You could never defeat me General Scar and this fight will be no different." he purred, his face twisting into a smirk that could petrify even the hardiest of people.

"Well you're in our home territory so I have the advantage!" the general declared.

"Allow me to prove how wrong you are…"

Before the general could even so much as pull the trigger, Steeljaw lashed towards him, his fangs bared and his jaws wide open. Scar cried out and fired but he was so startled that his shot went awry and missed the cobra completely. Steeljaw collided with Scar and knocked him down onto the floor. He tried to skewer the dino-alien's neck with his metallic claws but Scar grabbed Steeljaw's wrists and held him back. Steeljaw's mouth was still open and he reached forward to bit Scar on the snout. But the red-scaled general had an idea. He suddenly swung his legs upwards, throwing the cobra off of himself and onto his back. Scar then jumped back up onto his feet and quickly swept his gun up into his hands with a flick of his foot. He spun around and fired but Steeljaw had picked himself up and fired a shot from the laser in his head. The two laser blasts hit each other, cancelling each other out and preventing either one from hitting their target. A wisp of smoke drifted in front of the two but Steeljaw had the advantage. His helmet gave him heat-vision, meaning he could see through the smoke as if it wasn't there. He swung his tail and slash Scar across the chest with his tail blade. The dino-alien screamed in pain, clutching his chest as yellow blood began to seep out of the cut. He winced, trying to fight the pain. Steeljaw cackled and then uppercut Scar in the chin. An uppercut from the cobra's cybernetic arms was enough to give somebody severe whiplash. Scar landed down heavily on his back, crying out in agony as fresh pain joined the pain he was currently experiencing. His reptilian opponent slithered towards him, his claws bared and his mouth curled into a horrible smile that seemed to spell death for his enemies.

"And I win again…that's hardly a surprise…" Steeljaw purred.

Scar glared at his enemy as he raised up his tail blade and prepared to finish the general off. Many heroes had fallen by that very blade and Scar's life was about to be the next one it would claim. Scar closed his eyes, excepting his fate. And then suddenly, a few lasers shots suddenly sliced through the air and slammed straight into the cobra's head, throwing him sideways and knocking him off-balance. Scar opened his eyes and saw that the Chasers had arrived. Their timing couldn't have been better. Many Chasers were already running towards Steeljaw's cronies, shooting at them with their advanced laser weaponry. Terra, Violet, Olaf and Damian had guns in their hands and were running over to Steeljaw now. Violet ran over to Scar and helped him up.

"Are you OK general?" she asked.

"Ungh…I'll live…" Scar grunted, "Thanks for the save kid."

"Welcome. Please get out of here sir." Violet ordered, "We'll take it from here."

"Good luck…ungh…Chasers." the injured security general said.

He then turned and slowly trudged away, leaving the Chasers to deal with the evil cyber-cobra. Steeljaw picked himself up and let out a smooth chuckle that suggested he didn't think much of his opponents. He had fought many Chasers before and had slaughtered many that dared to cross him. These four were barely worth bothering about.

"So it seems the junior league is here to save the day again." he crowed, "Honestly, why does this pitiful Coalition even bother with you nuisances? Chasers are barely even a challenge."

"Try telling that to what's left of Brevon's fleet gruesome!" Terra screeched, "Now how the hell did you find this place?!"

"Do you seriously think I'm gonna tell you that little girl?" Steeljaw sneered, his voice dripping with mockery, "What kind of king gives away secrets to the enemy?"

"We'll make you talk then! Hands up or we blast you to bits!" the she-alien snarled.

"You're gonna have to do better than that if you want me to surrender." the cyber-cobra sneered, "Now correct me if I'm wrong child but aren't you Terra? The sister of that idiot Phoenix? The one who Brevon slaughtered?"

"Yes I am! And I'm sorry to break the news to you snake-man but Brevon is dead!" Terra declared, "My brother is at peace at last!"

"I already know about that Terra." Steeljaw crowed, "But you didn't know what became of your brother after he was killed did you?"

"I assume he was left to rot in space?"

"Wrong…very wrong…"

"Then what happened to him?"

Steeljaw smiled an icy, hobgoblin smile that made the Chasers feel nervous. When a villain smiles at you like that, it's never good news. Experience had taught them that the hard way…

"Brevon took his corpse back to my home planet, Vipos." the cobra explained, "And do you know what happened then? I ATE it! Me and Valka ate the remains of Phoenix to celebrate Brevon's victory on the day he was killed. And I savoured EVERY. SINGLE. MOUTHFUL. I swear that your brother tasted so good I could eat him all over again if he was brought back to life!"

This revelation brought tears to the horrified Terra's eyes. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Steeljaw and his wife had literally taken her brother's body and EATEN it after Brevon murdered him?! This was the sickest thing she'd ever heard in her life! Violet, Damian and Olaf looked equally as disgusted about this as she did. Hearing about one of their own being eaten by Steeljaw was enough to make them cringe in disgust. Terra narrowed her tear-soaked eyes and growled viciously at her cyborg enemy. Terra was notoriously bad-tempered but she had never looked this angry before in her life.

"You…and your wife…ate…my brother's…body?!" she growled angrily.

"I did indeed." Steeljaw crooned, "How's about we eat you so you can join Phoenix in the afterlife?"

"You'll have to kill me first you sick bastard!" Terra screamed, aiming her gun straight for Steeljaw's head, "I'll blow your brains out for what you did to my brother!"

"I'll gladly take your life Terra. Savour the daylight, things are about to get rather dark…" Steeljaw purred, his voice soft and menacing, showing that he was ready to strike.

Then suddenly, moving at a speed that could rival even Lord Brevon's impressive agility, he shot towards Terra as if he'd been fired from a cannon. Terra screamed and threw herself onto her back just as a few kilos of flesh and metal flew over her, missing her by millimetres. Steeljaw skidded to a halt by digging his claws into the floor, leaving long scratch marks on the floor and making a loud screeching sound. The moment he stopped, Terra picked herself up and began shooting at the cobra's trademark helmet. But her lasers pinged harmlessly off of the tough steel helmet as if they were arrows against rock. Steeljaw's helmet had been specially modified for precisely this purpose, to deflect laser fire. He then fired a shot from the laser concealed in his forehead. Terra jumped out of the way, narrowly dodging the searing hot laser as it came rushing towards her. If she'd been hit, she would've been incinerated. Terra shot at Steeljaw's lower section, just under his cyber-torso and arms. The shot actually managed to hurt him since his lower section was exposed like his son's was. Steeljaw winced, trying to fight off the pain. As he recovered, Damian suddenly bolted towards the cobra and began unleashing a flurry of heavy punches on his face. Damian was young and small but he had fists of steel. He uppercut Steeljaw in the chin, throwing the snake's head backwards and throwing him off-balance. Amazingly, Damian's fists withstood the hard steel that they were slamming against. Damian did feel pain when he punched something hard but he was used to it. Steeljaw hissed furiously and whacked the young cadet across the room with his tail. Olaf ran up to catch Damian as he hurled through the air. He just made it, the young cadet crashing down on top of him. The two picked themselves up just as Steeljaw came rushing towards them, his teeth and claws bared and ready to rip them apart. Damian and Olaf nodded at each other and then both ran towards their reptilian nemesis. They jumped up together and kicked him in the snout, knocking him down onto his back. But then Steeljaw swung his tail up and somersaulted back over onto his front as he landed. He grinned as if their whole efforts weren't even bothering him.

"Good moves Chasers. But you'll have to do better than that to defeat King Steeljaw!" he gloated.

His gloats were cut short as a suddenly roundhouse kick connected with the back of his head and knocked him down onto his face. It was Violet. The usually sweet and chipper Chaser had dropped her true personality and was now in fighting mode. She was a very different person on the battlefield. She screamed a loud battle cry of fury as she roundhouse kicked Steeljaw in the side of his head and threw him a few inches across the floor. The cobra picked himself up, showing no signs of fatigue, and he lashed out at the she-Chaser with his tail-blade. Violet screamed and jumped up just as the tail-blade swept towards her. As soon as she landed, Steeljaw suddenly raced towards her and slugged her in the gut with a powerful, metal fist. Violet doubled over, giving the king cobra the chance to then swing his fist up into her face and whisk her off her feet. Violet spiralled backwards through the air, screaming as she was sent flying. She hit the floor heavily, groaning as spasms of pain shot through her body. Her whole face felt like it was about to break off. She knew that cyber-snakes could punch hard but she didn't think she'd ever be on the receiving end of a punch from King Steeljaw himself. She forced herself back onto her feet, the corner of her mouth trickling with blood. Steeljaw slithered towards her, grinning like a hobgoblin as he bared his teeth. He would devour this silly little girl alive and add more insult to injury to Terra and her friends. But just as he came close to the injured Violet, Terra grabbed his tail. Steeljaw jerked and fell onto his stomach as his tail was grabbed. Terra smirked and then swung Steeljaw away from Violet as if throwing the hammer for the Olympics. Steeljaw hurled across the room and crashed headfirst into a wall. The most the impact did was dent the wall, no damage inflicted upon the cyber-cobra whatsoever despite the heaviness of it. Terra then whipped out her pistols and came charging angrily towards Steeljaw. Her face was still full of fury.

"You're gonna pay for eating my brother just like Brevon paid for killing him you monster!" she bellowed.

She aimed her pistols at the cyborg cobra, shooting at him wildly and trying to blow him to pieces. All of her shots hit his helmet and did no harm, pinging off feebly as if they were pebbles against a steel girder. Steeljaw withstood every shot though the shots weren't necessarily meant to hurt him. They had distracted him long enough for Terra to put her pistols away, leap into the air in an amazing somersault and then deliver a heavy kick-slam down onto Steeljaw's head. The kick disorientated the cobra for a few seconds, giving Terra a few precious moments to throw heavy punches into his face. She tried her best to ignore the pain in her fists as they connected with solid steel. Steeljaw took the blows and then suddenly backhanded Terra onto her side. He hit her so hard that blood began to seep out of a cut that had been torn across her cheek. The she-alien grimaced and picked herself up, only for Steeljaw to suddenly wrap his tail around her and begin constricting her. He squeezed her tightly, causing Terra to grit her teeth and try her best to break free. She could feel the air escaping from her lungs and fought to get it back in. Steeljaw had a bone-crushing squeeze in his tail. If he squeezed any harder, Terra would have more than lack of air to worry about.

"You really shouldn't let your temper get the best of you little girl." Steeljaw sneered, "Don't you know that anger can get you killed just as quickly as fear can?"

"Grrr…keep…talking…freak!" grunted Terra, trying her best to speak despite how hard she was being squeezed, "I'll…make…you…eat…your…own…words!"

"I'd love to see you try." the cobra purred, sounding more amused than anything, "Oh and by the way, you're wasting your time with me. I'm only the distraction."

"Wh-what?" Terra croaked, "W-what…do you…mean?"

"Strain your brain and figure it out Terra." Steeljaw snorted, "Oh wait…you're not gonna get the chance…"

He cackled deviously as he began to tighten his squeeze around Terra. The Chaser's face was beginning to turn purple as more air escaped her lungs. She tried to push out with her arms but try as she might, she was fighting a desperately losing battle. Steeljaw's constriction was much, much too strong for her. But just as it looked like her head was about to explode, Damian pounced on the cobra's back and yanked on his hood. A cobra's hood is very sensitive and Steeljaw was no exception. He let out a bellow as his hood was sharply yanked back by the cadet Chaser. Damian pulled on him so hard that he managed to pull the snake's upper body backwards. As Steeljaw wrestled with Damian, his grip on Terra loosened. Violet ran over to her friend and shot the snake's tail, forcing him to let her go as he flinched instinctively. Terra collapsed, gasping for breath as the colour returned to her face. She had never been so close to death before and was thankful she hadn't come any closer. Violet helped the lieutenant stand up and was rewarded with a fit of coughing from the other she-Chaser.

"Are you alright?" she asked concernedly.

"My lungs ache but I'll live, thanks to you and Damian…" Terra croaked, "Thanks for getting me free Violet."

"Anytime." the navigator said sweetly, "Anyway, I might have misheard but…didn't Steeljaw just say that he was the distraction?"

"He did." the lieutenant murmured, "What does he mean though? Why would he need to distract us?"

"Maybe…he's after Serpentine?" Violet suggested.

"No, he can't be. He can't possibly have any idea that he's here." Terra dismissed, "He might be targeting the High Officer and the council. He's keeping us busy and has probably sent somebody after the council!"

"Then we'd better help!"

"Indeed so Vi. Let's go!"

The two girls ran off towards the lift at the far end of the room. They would take it up to the council room and save them immediately. But before they could reach it, Damian and Olaf were sent flying across the room by Steeljaw and the two boys crashed into the girls, knocking them down onto the floor. The four Chasers picked themselves up just as their slithering nemesis came trailing towards them with a dark look in his eyes.

"Leaving so soon?" he said mockingly, "I thought you wanted revenge on me for having your brother for dinner Terra…"

"We've figured out your big plan Steeljaw!" Terra declared, "You're after the council and we're going up to stop whatever you've sent up there to get them!"

"You're so wrong that it's embarrassing dear…" Steeljaw purred, "I'm not here for the council at all."

"Then what are you here for?!" the young girl barked.

"Work it out…if you can survive long enough to do so…" the cobra hissed menacingly.

He then suddenly leapt into the air and came hurling towards his victims with a vicious expression on his face…

* * *

Meanwhile, in the medical room, Torque had got up from his hover bed and had started doing some slow stretches to try and mend his damaged body. He had been sleeping a moment ago but had been woken up by the alarm that had warned everybody that they had been invaded. It worried the commander rotten that this had happened. How could it have happened?! He didn't understand how it was possible since Coalition HQ's location was classified. Regardless, he was now up and stretching, hoping to ease away enough of his pain so that he could join in the fight. He knew it wasn't wise to go into battle with the extent of his injuries but Torque wasn't willing to sit this one out. He could always just take cover and shoot at the intruders, no need for physical combat of any kind. He could even use the mech suit he'd used against Brevon yesterday, let the mech take all the punishment for him. But he needed to ease the pain in his body before he could do anything. Stretching was a way of easing it and getting somebody loosened up and ready to fight. He would use his jet boots to traverse the corridors and save what little strength his legs had.

"What a time for an invasion…" Torque muttered as he bent his body to one side and stretched, "I'm not really combat ready yet and Brevon's only just been axed off by Lilac. I sure hope my friends are doing OK fighting off whatever threat it is we're dealing with…"

He then bent his back and raised both arms. Pain flared through his back but he did his best to ignore it. He then straightened himself up, seeing if he was ready to go into battle. He was still weak and a little achy but he wouldn't be doing anything too demanding. All he would be doing was flying and shooting. He was well enough to do those things at least. He limped over to the door and opened it. He stepped outside, turned to his right…and he received the biggest shock of his life. Gali was back in Coalition HQ! She was walking down the corridor with somebody slithering after her. Torque stared in utter disbelief at what he was seeing. He was staring at a red-coloured snake-like creature with cyborg arms and wearing a helmet. It was a Viperian! Unbeleiveably it was a Viperian! But how?! They couldn't possibly know where Coalition HQ was! Nobody was supposed to know! Then Torque suddenly thought about something.

"Gali!" he declared to himself, "She must have sold us out to the Viperians! I'm betting right now that Valka and Steeljaw are here right now to get their son back! And Gali must've told them all about it! I've gotta stop her and that Viperian before they reach Serpentine!"

He was about to fly off after the two but he quickly stopped himself. No. He couldn't just jet off after them. His jet boots would make noise and give him away. He had to be stealthier than that. He was too weak to run after them and walking would be too slow as he would be limping all the way. Torque knew what he had to do. He stood by and waited as Gali and her Viperian accomplice turned a corner and headed off down the corridor. He counted to sixty in his head and then flew off after them. He traversed the corridor in a few seconds thanks to his jet boots. He landed as soon as he approached the corner and he peeked around it to see how far away from Gali he was. He just caught her going down another corridor with her cyber-snake friend. He flew after them again and came to a stop just before the corner and peeked around again. He saw the two villains heading off towards a door that had the words "Security Personnel only" plastered across them. That door led to the prison blockade. Torque waited until Gali opened up the door and let herself and her accomplice inside. The moment the two entered, Torque flew towards it and landed down before the control panel. He was about to open the door but he then paused and pressed his head against it. He listened in to see what was happening. He heard Gali's footsteps, faint on the other side of the door and getting fainter as she walked further away. There was no doubt about it. She was here to free Serpentine from captivity. Torque couldn't let that happen. He began thumbing in the code to open the door, ready to arrest Gali for her treason and send the Viperian packing.

Inside the prison, Gali reached Serpentine's cell door and placed her hand against the control panel. Councillors were registered as authorized to open and close cell doors like The Chasers were and unfortunately for the High Officer, it had been too soon since she'd been fired so no time had been allowed for them to erase her authority from their system's memory banks. She was still recognized as authoritative by the scanning system. The barrier closed off and now Serpentine was free from his cell. He was surprised to see Gali standing before him but he soon understood why as he saw the Viperian with her. The cyber snake bowed down to the general respectfully.

"Prince Serpentine, we have come to grant you your freedom." he said.

"Please, don't call me prince." Serpentine sighed, "I prefer "general" myself."

"My apologies General." the Viperian said.

"So I take it mother and father got my distress signal?" the gun-crazy serpent asked.

"Distress signal?" Gali asked, "What do you mean? Did you have some secret way of calling for help or something?"

"Why do you think the Viperians are here?" Serpentine snorted as if the rhino-bird woman had asked a stupid question.

"Point taken…" the ex-councillor murmured, "So you sent a secret distress signal to Steeljaw and thus, disclosed our location to him and brought him right here to rescue you? I must say, that is rather clever…"

"Lord Brevon is a man of many contingencies Gali." Serpentine gloated, "He installed an alarm button in my cybernetics for such an occasion. But enough about that. Why are YOU here? Are you on our side or something?"

"She is general." the Viperian answered, "She was apparently fired from her seat and wants revenge against the council. So we've decided to let her join us. She's helped us greatly in rescuing you general. She told us what we had to look out for and helped our king formulate a plan that has seen your freedom bestowed back to you."

"That's excellent!" the abrasive serpent bellowed happily, "I thank you dearly for helping me escape Gali!"

"Don't mention it…please…" the winged, horned alien sighed, clearly looking displeased with having freed a Viperian from custody.

"Now that I'm free, let's meet up with father and get out of here!" Serpentine cried out.

"You're not going anywhere Serpentine!" cried a voice that made everybody jump in surprise.

The three villains all turned around and saw none other than Commander Torque himself standing before them in a battle-ready stance with his laser gun aimed at them, ready to shoot. Serpentine noted that he still looked battered from what Brevon did to him last night. His pose wasn't very solid; he could see the commander shuddering slightly as if trying his best to keep upright. He was weak, unfit for battle and yet he was standing there and daring to point a gun at him. Torque clearly looked as if he wasn't going down without a fight. The determination in his eyes was there as always.

"Gali, I place you under arrest for treason against Coalition HQ!" he barked, "As for you Serpentine, you're going back in your cell and your little buddies can go home!"

Serpentine responded to the commander's threats with a sneering, mocking, grating laugh that was much louder than it needed to be.

"You seriously think you can stop me in your condition commander?!" he cried out mockingly, "You can barely stand! You look like your legs will give out anytime soon!"

"I don't need to stand in order to fight." Torque retorted.

To prove this, he activated his jet boots and levitated off the floor slightly. Serpentine nodded, understanding that Torque was more prepared than he had imagined. The Chaser Commander was always well-prepared.

"Now Serpentine, get in your cell before I open fire!" Torque ordered, "And Gali, you better put your hands up before you get hurt!"

"I will not have an impudent boy like you addressing me in that disgusting tone!" Gali snarled, "Do you have any idea on who you're talking to?!"

"An ex-councillor." the Chaser snorted, "A treasonous, treacherous ex-councillor that is! I'm disgusted you're throwing your lot in with Serpentine's people! Have you forgotten what they did to your world?"

"That's in the past now! And the Viperians are allowing me the chance of getting my revenge against you stupid morons for firing me!" the stuck-up woman barked, "You had no right to fire me and now you're going to pay for it!"

"Oh boy, the High Officer's gonna have a field day with you…" Torque sighed, "Now everyone, do as I say or I shoot! I mean it!"

"I'm not doing down without a fight Chaser!" Serpentine growled, "You want me back in that cell? Than MAKE me get back in!"

He then flicked himself into the air with a quick smack of his tail and lunged towards Torque with his fangs bared…

* * *

 _ **The assault has begun! But how will it end? Will Steeljaw and Serpentine make a quick getaway? Or will Torque and his friends put a stop to them? Find out next time as the assault comes to an end...**_


	4. Chapter 4: Fleeing the Headquarters

_Chapter 4: Fleeing the Headquarters_

Everything seemed to happen too quickly. To Gali's eyes, she just saw Serpentine lunging towards Torque with his fangs bared and then suddenly, Torque was out of his way and the general was now landing slap-bang onto the floor, having completely missed his target. Having never witnessed a battle involving a Chaser of any rank, size or anything else, she had no idea on what to expect as the fight unfolded before her. She watched as Torque aimed his pistols at Serpentine and opened fire on him. The laser shots blazed out of their barrels and whizzed towards their reptilian target. Serpentine was too fast for the weakened Chaser. He picked himself up and slithered quickly out of the way, moving at a speed that defied even those of a Viperian. Had he not been granted cybernetics, he would've been much slower and easier to catch, something that Torque would've greatly appreciated.

The Viperian that had accompanied Gali on her way to the detention block stood by, wondering if he should get involved in this fight. He knew that it was sacrilege to undermine his prince's capability by helping him but he also knew that even royalty needed a helping hand at something. He would wait until Serpentine needed help before interfering. The general gritted his teeth as Torque fired at him again, jumping out of the way before the shots could hit him. He knew the guns were set on stun mode. Torque didn't want him dead. He wanted him stunned so he could lock him up again. And if he was caught now, he likely would never get another chance at freedom. They would destroy his cybernetics to make sure that he couldn't call for help again. He had to escape and he had to do it now.

Torque hovered above the floor, the only way he could travel around without stumbling given his weakened state from last night. His jet boots burned as they kept him off the floor a few inches. Serpentine wondered what would happen if he took out those boots. Would Torque just be weak and helpless and unable to fight back properly given he was still recovering from Brevon's onslaught last night? He was keen to make that happen. The snake jumped towards his enemy, aiming for his feet. But that was a mistake for Serpentine for Torque just swung his leg up and booted his enemy in the face, knocking him backwards. The fume of his jet boot also licked at Serpentine's face, lightly scalding him in the brief time the two had connected. The cyber-snake howled in pain and rubbed at his face, letting the cold steel of his hands ease the burns he'd received. Torque shot at him while he was vulnerable but he ended up missing as the Viperian escort tail-whipped him into a nearby cell. The blow left the Chaser feeling very disorientated. Serpentine recovered and pounced on Torque before the Chaser could pick himself up. He pinned Torque down onto the floor, his strong metal hands closing around Torque's arms and forcing them to the sides. The commander tried to fight back but he was too weak. He couldn't fight back.

"You should've stayed in bed commander!" Serpentine gloated, "At least then you wouldn't be injuring yourself some more!"

"I'll rest once you're back in your cell general!" Torque barked.

He then swung his head forward and slammed it heavily in between Serpentine's eyes. The general bellowed loudly as he was hit and his grip on Torque loosened. It was enough for the Chaser to push Serpentine away from him and, grunting with effort, pull himself back onto his feet. He saw his two pistols lying on the floor from when he'd dropped them earlier. He bent down to pick one of them up. Unfortunately, Serpentine saw him just as he picked both guns up and he swatted at Torque's left hand. The Chaser cried out as he dropped his second pistol and the general was quick to grab it. He pointed it at Torque, grinning viciously and confidently at his opponent.

"Now we're even!" he crowed, "Except for the fact that I'm in good condition and you are not!"

"I'm pretty sure that doesn't mean I'm easier to defeat." Torque muttered, "Not when I can fly to compensate for my lack of speed and balance."

Torque then activated his jets boots and flew up off the floor again. He couldn't fly up very high for the detention block had a low ceiling but it was enough for him to move around freely without worrying about crashing into anything. He aimed his pistol at Serpentine and fired at him. Serpentine fired back, both shots hitting each other and cancelling each other out. Torque used this moment to fly over Serpentine, spin around and then shoot at his back. The cyber-snake quickly shifted out of the way before he could be hit. One of Torque's shots ended up hitting Gali in the leg, making her wince in pain and fall onto her knees. The Viperian escort looked at her and sniffed. She wasn't worth worrying about so he wasn't bothered about her. He could easily leave her behind if he had to. Serpentine aimed up at Torque and unleashed a volley of shots at the Chaser. Torque weaved through them with ease, dodging every shot. He then raised his feet and sailed down towards Serpentine like an incoming missile. The snake didn't have enough time to get out of the way and grunted as the commander's feet heavily slammed into his face. Serpentine reeled back, wondering what had hit him. He quickly recovered, only to then be kick-slammed in the face again by Torque. The reptilian cyborg landed down heavily onto his back, crying out as he landed. Torque smirked, still hovering above the floor and spinning the pistol around in his hands.

"I dunno about you Serpentine, but I'm getting a KICK outta this!" he chuckled.

"We'll see how many bad puns you can make after I beat you to a bloody pulp you pathetic little nuisance!" the Viperian Prince bellowed.

He suddenly sprung up onto his feet and fired rapidly at Torque. The Chaser cried out and flew frantically around the room, dodging every shot with just seconds to spare. He fired back but not one of his shots hit home as Serpentine effortlessly weaved around them and dodged the shots like a worm evading the bird's pecking beak. Serpentine then suddenly caught Torque off-guard by leaping up towards his legs and grabbing his ankles. Torque's jet boots pushed against the cyber-snake's weight, fighting to keep their wearer airborne but Serpentine climbed up Torque's legs and slugged him in the stomach. This caused the Chaser to double over and splutter, losing his balance and allowing Serpentine to drag him down onto the floor. He then swung his enemy onto the floor as if he was a roll of newspaper swinging down on the unfortunate fly that was waiting to be swatted. Torque let out a pained scream as his already aching back slammed onto the hard, steel floor. Serpentine then spun around on his tail, throwing Torque across the room and into the wall. Torque hit the wall, yelling loudly in reaction to the impact, and he slid down onto the floor. He was having trouble breathing. The impact had badly winded him and pain flared through his body. He wasn't ready for combat! He shouldn't be here now! He shouldn't have been so foolish as to get involved in a battle without being better prepared! But he couldn't let Serpentine get away, not now. He had risked his life for this and would continue to do so now. There was no backing out of this one. Torque strained as he forced himself onto his feet. Serpentine laughed obnoxiously at his opponent.

"See? You can barely get up again!" he crowed, "You really should've stayed in bed commander! Now allow me to put you back into bed...PERMENENTLY!"

He raised his gun and aimed at Torque. But just as he fired, the Chaser activated his jet boots and flew out of the way, leaving the shot to just hit the wall and leave a scorch mark where it had hit. Torque balled his fists and narrowed his eyes at his opponent.

"Never under-estimate a Chaser general...especially a commander." he said coldly.

He then stretched his legs out behind him and rocketed towards Serpentine with his fists out-stretched and aiming directly for his opponent's face. He zoomed straight into Serpentine, whisking him off his tail and wrapping his arms around him. Serpentine tried to break free but Torque's grip was just tough enough to hold onto him for long enough to carry him to the end of the room and toss him into the wall. Serpentine slammed into the wall back first, leaving a small dent in it due to how heavy his impact was. He slid down to the floor but just as he reached the floor, Torque grabbed Serpentine's tail and picked him up by it. He strained, feeling the muscles in his body aching in protest. He wasn't at full strength and wouldn't be able to carry the weight for long. But he had enough strength to do what he did next. He swung his opponent towards his opened cell, releasing him the moment Serpentine swung forwards. He shot out of his opponent's grip and slammed into the back of his cell. As Serpentine hit the ground, Torque flew to the side of the cell and was about to press his hand against the control panel and seal the Viperian Prince inside. But then the Viperian escort decided to interfere. He rammed Torque in the back, throwing him into Serpentine's cell. The moment Torque was inside, Gali limped over towards it and she pressed her hand against the control panel. The barrier suddenly appeared in the door frame, sealing Torque and Serpentine inside together. The Viperian grinned approvingly.

"Clever plan." he hissed, "With Torque trapped in a confined space with the Prince of the Viperians, he'll have less room to fly around in and Serpentine will have the advantage!"

"That's the idea." Gali said grimly, glaring at Torque as if the fact she had been fired from her position was all his fault and she'd given him what he deserved.

Inside Serpentine's cell, Torque picked himself up. His back was throbbing with pain and he had to fight hard to keep himself standing despite his mind begging for him to sit down and rest. He looked over his shoulder and gasped, horrified to see that he had just been locked up in the cell along with Serpentine. He heaved his heavy bones over to the barrier and banged against it. The barrier flashed but didn't budge in the slightest as he hit it.

"Let me out! Let me outta here right now Gali!" Torque shouted.

"I will captain. Once Serpentine's beaten you to a pulp that is." the rhino-bird sneered.

"You are in so much trouble when the High Officer hears about this Gali!" the Chaser snarled, "Mark my words you will be!"

He was quickly silenced as Serpentine suddenly charged into his back and slammed him against the barrier. Torque cried out, pain flaring through his back as if a giant hand had reached up behind him and squeezed him as hard as it possibly could. The alien snake cyborg had worked out that Torque's back seemed to be one of the weakest points and had decided to attack him there. The Chaser coughed, trying to will new strength into his weak and feeble body but strength wouldn't come. He was exhausted. He wanted to rest. But he forced himself to ignore the temptations. He couldn't rest, not now and not while he was trapped in a cell with Serpentine. The Chaser Commander wheeled around and threw a terrific punch at Serpentine's jaw. He was surprised he'd even managed to throw such a punch at his enemy despite his condition. He had more strength left than he thought. The snake rubbed his jaw, amazed at how much the punch had even hurt him. He growled menacingly at his enemy and he lunged at him, preparing to bite Torque. Torque activated his jet boots and flew out of the way. But he had forgotten that he was locked up in a small area and thus, didn't have as much freedom as he did outside the cell. He accidentally bumped into the wall as he dodged, grimacing as pain shot through his arm. Serpentine laughed at his opponent's mistake and he tail-whipped Torque onto the floor. The captain yelled loudly and threw a kick at Serpentine. But his kick barely did anything as he hit him. His strength was fading. He was getting weaker. Serpentine picked Torque up and slugged him three times in the stomach, making sure every hit he landed was harder than the last. Then he tossed Torque across the cell and into the wall. The Chaser landed down onto the floor in a heap, gasping and panting. He was heavily winded and trying to get the breath back into his body. He was very weak now and he could barely stay awake. He couldn't stand back up. He was utterly defeated. Serpentine laughed loudly, triumphant and gleeful over his victory.

"YES! I won!" he crowed, "I knew you couldn't win Torque! You should've known better than to fight me while you're still healing! Now if you don't mind, I'll be leaving right about now!"

He slithered over to the barrier and waited for Gali to let him out. The rhino-bird did as she was expected and she opened up the cell, letting Serpentine out once again. The moment the general had left, Gali closed up the cell, trapping Torque inside. Torque let a single tear fall out of his eye as he accepted his defeat. What an idiot he had been! He shouldn't have done this! He should've called the High Officer! He should've called for his team to help him! Instead, he'd tried to win a fight he couldn't possibly have won and now thanks to his stupidity, Serpentine was going to escape! And he couldn't do anything about it now he was trapped in his cell. Except for one thing…

He lay on the floor and waited as Serpentine, Gali and the Viperian left the detention block. But not without doing something else too. Gali walked around the detention block and freed all of the imprisoned soldiers and robots that had been on the ship that had sneaked onto Avalice yesterday. Torque could hear the barriers disappearing and releasing their occupants as Gali opened them one at a time. The robots and aliens all left their cells, thrilled to be free again and they all filed out of the block with Serpentine and the Viperian escort. What a prison break this was! But Torque wasn't too bothered about Brevon's men. They could easily be recaptured. Serpentine was the one to worry about. He listened as the abrasive serpent led the army out of the detention block.

"You're free my men!" Serpentine barked, "Now let us leave this hideous place and head on back home to Vipos! We'll carry out our revenge against Avalice and avenge our fallen master with the help of my people!"

The statement made Torque's heart stop. Serpentine was planning on invading Avalice again?! And this time, he was going to bring the Viperians to the planet to avenge Lord Brevon?! He had to stop them and fast! But he had no chance of stopping a whole army in his condition. But he could warn everybody about them. He waited until the escaped prisoners left the detention block. Once he was certain he was alone, he picked himself up and weakly said:

"Prison Cell Override Code Delta 8643."

This was a special code that only the Chasers knew. If any of them happened to be imprisoned in these cells under any circumstance, they could override the prison's locking mechanism with the code. It wouldn't work if they were in the cell because they had been arrested at all. The barrier disappeared and Torque limped out of the cell, grunting with every step he took. He pulled out his communicator and he spoke into it.

"High…Officer…it's Torque. Serpentine…and Brevon's men have escaped…" he croaked, "Gali…has turned traitor. She's…working with…the invaders. You…must stop them…before they can…get away."

"I'll be down there immediately." the High Officer's stern voice replied, "You remain in the medical bay and rest Torque. You're not fit for battle."

"I will." Torque said hoarsely.

He switched off the communicator and activated his jet boots. As sad as he was to be going back to bed, he knew that with the High Officer on duty, he didn't have to worry about Serpentine escaping. The High Officer would see to it that that didn't happen…

* * *

Down in the hangar bay, the fight continued between the Chasers and the Viperians. Many Chasers fired their lasers at their reptilian enemies, their guns set to stun mode so they could later arrest them after they were taken down. But try as much as they could, they couldn't hit their targets. The Viperians were much too fast for the Chasers to hit. They slithered out of the way every time a shot came near and then came charging at their opponents to stop them from making another shot. Some of the Chasers had been forced to abandon their pistols for the time being and resort to a fist-fight. Two Chasers did just that as two Viperians came rushing towards them, fangs dripping with saliva and their claws poised for attack. Their opponents had cybernetic arms and electric Tasers attached to their tails. The two cyber-snakes lunged at the Chasers with their Tasers, electricity crackling and buzzing as they sailed towards them. The Chasers dodged and grabbed hold of their tails, keeping their hands just behind the Tasers to avoid being electrocuted. But the Viperians just yanked their tails back, whisking their opponents off their feet and then slamming them both together, dazing them and leaving them to slump stupidly onto the floor. The two cyber-snakes laughed and then prepared to electrocute their two opponents to death, aiming their Tasers straight for their necks. But before they could do so, another Chaser managed to drop a sneak attack on them, shooting them both in the back with a stun blast. This caused the two Viperians to pass out instantly and the Chaser ran over to help up his comrades. It seemed that they had found a good way of dispatching their opponents at last. Now they could try it out and see how well they could keep this up and if they could take out all of the Viperians before they overwhelmed them all.

While the Chasers carried out their plan, Steeljaw lashed out with his bladed tail at his four opponents. Terra, Olaf, Damian and Violet were still refusing to give up in their fight against him and were coming at him once again. All four of them jumped up as Steeljaw's tail came swishing towards them. They felt the air sweep underneath them as the cobra's tail swept under their feet. The four landed on the floor all at once and Terra was the first to spring into action. She threw herself at the cyber-cobra, hoping to land a crippling blow that would take out Steeljaw at last. But just as she was about to hit the Viperian King, Steeljaw held up his cybernetic hands and caught the lieutenant by her shoulders. Terra yelped but before she could do anything about it, Steeljaw spun around on the spot and threw the turquoise alien across the room. A Chaser that was fighting another Viperian saw Terra coming and screamed in terror…only for Terra to miss him completely and crash into the Viperian. He sighed with relief, pleased she hadn't crashed into him. Terra picked herself up, gritting her teeth in anger. Steeljaw smirked as Terra stared him down, rage evident all over her face.

"What's the matter little Terra? Am I making you mad?" the cobra sneered, "Didn't your mother ever tell you that it's not good to get angry all the time?"

"SHUT UP!" Terra screamed, "You're gonna be wishing you'd never seen my angry side when I'm through with you Steeljaw!"

"Not with a temper like that you won't." jeered Steeljaw, "In fact, I think anger is a wasteful emotion. All it does is make you feel unwell and blur your vision in a fight. That is why I do the exact opposite whenever I'm in battle. I NEVER lose my temper. I keep my cool the whole way through. That's why I never lose Terra dear."

"Then prepare to lose your cool for the first time ever!" the enraged lieutenant bellowed.

She then suddenly activated her jet boots and flew straight towards Steeljaw. It amazed her that she hadn't thought of using them earlier. The cobra recoiled, surprised to see Terra flying towards him. He knew that the Chasers were often equipped with jet boots but hadn't expected Terra to take flight. He tried to move but his opponent came in too quick and kick-slammed him directly in the face. The blow sent him reeling backwards and slamming onto the floor. He grunted as he hit the floor but before he could get back up, Terra suddenly grabbed him by the tail and lifted him up. He was too heavy for her to carry on her own though, his upper-body weighing her down so only his tail was lifted up by her. Violet flew up after Terra and grabbed Steeljaw's tail with her. The two girls were able to lift up Steeljaw together, their combined strength hoisting him up off the floor. The cobra cried out wildly as he dangled upside down like a bell in a clock tower. He looked ridiculous and he felt it. He tried to wriggle free but the two she-aliens then started to spin him around on the spot. The cyber-cobra cried out as he was hurled around and around in a circle, getting faster and faster and looking more blurred as he hurled around. He let out a scream as the girls then suddenly let him go and he hurled across the hangar and straight into the wreckage of a Chaser ship that had been destroyed earlier. There was a terrific crashing sound as the Viperian King hit the broken metal of the ship. Terra and Violet landed down and smiled, thinking they had finally taken him out at last. The impact must've at least knocked him out. The turquoise and violet aliens clapped their hands together in a high-five and whooped with joy.

"Whoo-hoo! That's what I call teamwork!" Violet squealed.

"We've taken him out for sure!" Terra cried, "Now we can arrest him and throw him in a cell with his precious son!"

"I'll say! Good going girls!" Damian said, winking at the two fem-Chasers.

"Thanks." Terra said graciously, "So Damian, would you like to put the cuffs on Steeljaw?"

"Totally lieutenant!" the young cadet cried out, "I'll even take him away for ya! Serves him right for eating Phoenix!"

"You bet…" the lieutenant muttered.

"Um, my friends? Pardon the dampening of your joyous moods but…look!" Olaf exclaimed, pointing at the metal debris pile.

The Chasers stared in disbelief as the metal debris pile was thrown away and suddenly, Steeljaw emerged from underneath, cackling manically and flexing his arms as if nothing had happened. He didn't even look hurt! Even his cybernetics were undamaged from the heavy impact of his collision! The Chasers could only give incredulous gazes at their opponent, wondering how he could possibly still be standing.

"Is that seriously your idea of how to defeat me?" he crowed, "Pathetic…"

"I don't believe this!" Terra exclaimed, "We've hit him hard several times over and we've even thrown him into a huge pile of debris and he STILL won't give-up!"

"It's like he's a living juggernaut or something!" Damian wailed, "How the heck do we defeat this guy?!"

"We keep going!" Terra declared, "If he won't give up then never will we!"

"But how do we stop somebody who is unstoppable?" asked Olaf worriedly.

"Nobody is unstoppable." Violet corrected, "Remember, Lord Brevon finally got beaten and as of yesterday, killed by this Lilac girl Torque told us about. We thought HE was unstoppable and now look at him! We'll stop this guy no matter what!"

"Yeah so quit being so sceptical you miserable old trout!" Damian retorted.

"Actually I am not in anyway miserable, nor do I have any kind of depression…"

"WHATEVER!"

Terra rolled her eyes in annoyance. Even in dire situations like this, Damian couldn't resist the urge to start an argument with Olaf! She'd smack some sense into him later though, now was not a good time. The four Chasers braced themselves as Steeljaw bared his claws and came rushing towards them. All four Chasers activated their jet boots and flew up out of the cobra's way, leaving him to miss them completely and land on his face. The lieutenant, navigator, scientist and cadet then whipped out their laser guns and began shooting at Steeljaw whilst remaining airborne. Flying out of harm's way, they could shoot as much as they liked and their nemesis would be helpless to stop them as he couldn't fly himself. Their shots rained down on the cyber-cobra, hammering him from all angles. Steeljaw's armour was strong enough to protect him from the shots but not every shot fired hit him in his armour. Some of the shots hit his tail and lower body, the only parts of him that weren't armoured. He flinched and grunted as he was hit on his organic areas. If he was hit too many times then he would be too sore to stay upright. Growling, Steeljaw curled his tail up around his base and bent down to protect himself. Now most of the shots were hitting his helmet once again. His position didn't protect his lower half from every angle but it was enough to shield himself from most of the firepower and prepare himself for his next move.

The Chasers carried on shooting, not once slowing down their relentless assault. They weren't going to let him win this fight. They had to win or Coalition HQ would cease to exist. Violet aimed her gun at Steeljaw's tail and fired. But the cobra smacked the shot away with the blade at the end of his tail. Olaf was luckier, landing a good shot just below Steeljaw's armour that made him rear up and grimace. But that was when the Viperian King made his move. He sprang out of the ring of shooting lasers he was in and rushed over to a huge chunk of debris that was lying nearby. The Chasers turned around and began shooting at him. They knew what he was up to and were trying to slow him down. But their shots didn't slow Steeljaw down at all and he was moving so fast that barely any of their shots managed to hit him. The cobra reached the debris chunk and he picked it up as if it weighed nothing in his hands. He raised the chunk in front of himself, using it as a shield and letting it take the laser fire for him. Terra growled in annoyance. Steeljaw definitely was NOT somebody who messed around in his fights. He seemed to use anything he could to his advantage. She commanded Damian and Violet to fly behind Steeljaw so they could shoot him and get past his shield. But the cyber-cobra knew what they were planning and stabbed down on another debris chunk with the blade on his tail. He raised the chunk up, using it as a back-mounted shield to defend himself as Violet and Damian flew behind him and began shooting. Terra and Olaf shot at the front. If they carried on shooting at him, they could destroy the debris and render him defenceless.

But then Steeljaw made his next move. He suddenly turned to one side, held the debris chunk out to the side and then hurled it straight at Terra and Olaf. The lieutenant and scientist were both slammed down onto the floor as the debris hit them and knocked them down. Violet and Damian cried out for their comrades but then Steeljaw flicked his tail and sent the debris impaled on his tail blade hurling straight towards the two. The navigator and cadet were walloped by the debris and knocked down onto the floor. They both groaned in pain, wondering which side was up. Steeljaw cackled mockingly at his opponents.

"Do you see why I never lose?" he crowed, "I know every trick in the book and how to counter them, that's why. It also helps that I'm so powerful too. Why don't you just give up and make it easy on yourselves Chasers? Like I said, I'm only the distraction so why waste your time with me?"

Terra forced herself onto her feet, grunting heavily and trying to keep her eyes open.

"Because…we can't let you…destroy our base…and kill our friends!" she grunted, "And besides…we have an ace up our sleeves that we haven't…played yet!"

"And what is that? Torque himself?" Steeljaw sneered, "He won't help you. He can't stop me either…"

Then suddenly, the doors in the other side of the room opened up and to Steeljaw's delight, he saw just who he was expecting coming through them. Terra, Violet, Damian and Olaf all gasped in horror at what they saw. Serpentine was out of his cell and was slithering through the battlefield with his Viperian escort, Gali and all of Brevon's men from the ship behind him. Steeljaw grinned, pleased to see his son was free. Terra's brain clicked and she now understood what the whole thing was about. It was all so obvious and yet she had taken until now to work it out.

"Of course! Steeljaw was keeping us busy while that wretch Gali gets Serpentine out of his cell!" she exclaimed, "Oh man I'm such an idiot! How did I not work that out?!"

"I can't believe I was right all along..." Violet murmured, "He WAS here for Serpentine the whole time!"

"But how did he possibly find out that he was here?!" Damian exclaimed, "Serpentine can't have told him right?!"

"I'm willing to bet Gali told him..." Olaf suggested, "The fact she's beside Serpentine just supports this theory. She must have defected to their side as revenge for being fired."

"Well I sure hope the High Officer has a nasty punishment in store for that traitor..." Terra snarled, "How dare she join the Viperians! How dare she!"

The Chasers watched as Steeljaw and Serpentine slithered towards each other and embraced each other gleefully. To a Viperian, this would be considered a wonderful, pleasant sight. To the Chasers, it was nothing short of revolting and it made Terra, Violet, Olaf and Damian cringe in disgust.

"Father! It's a pleasure to see you again!" Serpentine cried gleefully.

"The pleasure's all mine my son." Steeljaw said softly, "I'm so glad that you're free from their custody. Me and your mother got your signal Serpentine and we came here to rescue you."

"And I'm grateful to you for doing so!" Serpentine exclaimed, "The commander tried to stop me but due to his injured state, he couldn't slow me down for long and I've now locked him up in my cell!"

"Serves him right for trying to stop you whilst in a bad condition." the king cobra gloated, "Now you're free my son, let's leave this place and leave the Chasers to clean up our mess."

"Indeed father! But...what about Gali?" the general asked, "Is she coming too?" he asked, motioning to the rhino-bird who stood beside him.

"No..."

Before Gali could work out that she'd been betrayed, Steeljaw raised his tail-blade and plunged it straight into the woman's heart. Gali let out a feeble gasp of shock as her body fell limp and her heart stopped forever. Her eyes were still open. Steeljaw sneered at the dead woman and yanked his blade out of Gali's chest. The rhino-bird collapsed onto the floor, blood pouring out of her chest and her dead, unfocused eyes staring up at the ceiling. Her treachery had lasted all of a moment and died in that moment as well. The Chasers cringed, more disturbed at how Gali had been killed than the fact the traitor was now dead. As deserving of this death as she was, it was still rather cringing to have watched it. Serpentine laughed at the ex-councillor's dead body, pleased with what his dad had done.

"Good idea father! She would've betrayed us anyway!" he cackled.

"Indeed, hence why I had to betray her first." Steeljaw chuckled, "Now let's get out of here before those Chasers try and stop us..."

Just as he finished his sentence, the lift doors suddenly pinged and opened up. Steeljaw turned around and rolled his eyes. Not more Chasers trying to annoy him! But to his surprise, it WASN'T a Chaser. It was the High Officer himself. The armoured, four-faced alien skittered out of the lift on his four tentacles, his four faces all sharing the same stern, grim expression. Terra smiled confidently at Steeljaw. He was in trouble now the head honcho himself was here to help.

"Ooooh you're so dead now!" she boasted, "The High Officer will kick your asses into a cell when he's done with you!"

"Not necessarily since he won't be fighting against me." grumbled Steeljaw, "Robots! Soldiers! Get him!"

The alien soldiers and robots obeyed and they al began charging over to the High Officer, weapons blazing and ready to kill. The High Officer just stood still, glaring at his opponent as if they weren't even a real challenge. He waited until his opponents came within reasonable distance before suddenly springing up off the floor and lashing out with all four of his tentacles in a swift kicking attack. He struck four aliens at once, knocking them off their feet in a single kick and then landing down between them. A robot began shooting at him but the four-faced alien was ready for him. Having four faces meant that nobody could ever land a sneak attack on him. He would always see them coming. He backhanded the robot in the face, his strong arm taking its head clean off of its body. His armour not only made him hard to hurt but it enhanced his strength. The robot's head bounced off of the floor as its body collapsed onto its side. Another alien shot at the High Officer but his shot pinged harmlessly off of his armour. He spun around on the spot and socked the alien in the face, cracking its glass visor and allowing its fluids to spill out onto the floor. The alien gasped, unable to breathe without its fluids and collapsed onto the floor, gasping for breath like a fish out of water. A floating robot shaped like a clam flew towards the High Officer and shot at him. It did no damage and the Coalition leader sprang up and grabbed the robot. He crushed it between his hands as if it was made of tin foil. Despite his fighting prowess, the powerful alien didn't show any signs of tiring. It was as if this was a warm-up exercise for him.

Steeljaw and Serpentine watched, amazed at what they were seeing. They hadn't known that the High Officer was this powerful. It was a good thing they had planned to escape before he had arrived. He would heavily delay, maybe even cripple their escape attempts.

"Well father...I think now's a good time to flee." Serpentine said.

"I would agree." Steeljaw nodded, "Viperians, retreat! Our mission is accomplished! We have Serpentine! Let's go!"

The Viperians all got the message and they abandoned their opponents, slithering off back to their ships before anybody could stop them. Some of the Viperians had been knocked out by the Chasers thanks to the clever plan that three of them had coined up earlier but the Viperians that were conscious grabbed their unconscious comrades and carried them away. The Chasers began shooting at them, eager to stop them from escaping but their opponents were too fast and they had been too badly beaten and thus, were too slow to hit them. Terra, Olaf, Damian and Violet shot at Steeljaw and Serpentine but they were too weak to get clear shots. Serpentine spun around and shot back at the Chasers with the pistols he had stolen from Torque. He hit his targets and knocked all four Chasers off of their feet with a shot to the stomach each. The four Chasers winced in pain, clutching their stomachs and trying to get back up. General Scar and what remained of his men ran in and tried to stop the fleeing Viperians but they were too late. The cyber-snakes had all boarded their ships and were now preparing to fly away. The High Officer destroyed a couple more of Brevon's machines and saw the Viperian fleet rising up off the floor and leaving the hangar bay. His faces fell with despair as he watched them leave.

"NO!" he cried, "Chasers, stop them!"

"We can't!" wailed Terra, "Our...ships are all in pieces...and we're too weak...to stop them!"

The High Officer stared helplessly as the Viperian fleet left Coalition HQ and cruised off into space, leaving nothing but dead bodies and a mess of debris behind for the poor Chasers to clean up. He tried to run towards the ships but Brevon's minions stood in his way, preventing him from getting any closer. He knew that he wouldn't have made it anyway and decided to just let the Viperians go. Brevon's remaining men could do some terrible damage while the robots still functioned and the aliens were still alive and the hangar bay was damaged enough as it was. He would take them out and then focus on getting back Serpentine. The Chasers and security men watched as their leader quickly dispatched the remaining robots and aliens. He moved quickly in a flurry of punches, kicks and flips that defied all belief. Nobody had known their leader to move so fast in their lives. The High Officer smashed through robots and tripped them to pieces and he killed the alien soldiers by busting their glass visors open and letting their liquids run out onto the floor. In a matter of moment, he had taken them all out. Brevon now had less of his army left than he had when he'd been killed. The moment the fight was over, the High Officer turned so that his front face was facing the four Chasers and he skittered over to them.

"Are you alright Lieutenant Terra, Cadet Damian, Navigator Violet and Chief Scientist Olaf?" he asked concernedly.

"We are sir. A little banged up but we're OK." Terra grunted, "I'm so sorry that we couldn't stop Steeljaw sir. I really am...please don't be mad at us..."

"We tried our best, honest!" Violet piped.

"It's fine ladies, do not fret. I am not mad at you at all." said the High Officer softly, "I wasn't expecting the Chasers to win once I knew that we were against Viperians. They're stronger than any Chaser there is."

"I'll say." Olaf murmured, "Steeljaw in particular just won't go down no matter what we do."

"I'm just glad you weren't killed." the High Officer said, "Steeljaw could've easily crushed your skulls and sliced you in half if you were unlucky..."

"Just like Gali over there." said Damian nonchalantly, pointing over at the ex-councillor's dead body.

The High Officer nodded, seeing the body and not showing any remorse for it.

"So Gali came back? Was she working with Steeljaw?" he asked.

"You bet she was." Terra grumbled, "He distracted us while she got Serpentine out. Steeljaw killed her so she couldn't turn on him. Not that I give a damn about that arrogant bitch, she deserved to die!"

"No arguments there." the Coalition founder agreed, "We'll dispose of her body as we have with Brevon's. For now, the Chasers must rest up and our spaceships will need replacing. It could take us a few weeks before we can go after Serpentine so I need you all to be patient and willing to wait. It would be suicide to chase after him in your current conditions."

"As begrudging as I am to agree…yes it would." the lieutenant said, rubbing her arm slightly, "If we go after the Viperians like this, we're lunchmeat. We'd better rest up so that we're in tip-top shape for our retrieval mission."

"I do sincerely hope we succeed…" Olaf said grimly.

"Otherwise nobody will ever trust us to keep the peace again." Damian sighed, "What good is a Chaser who can't contain the enemy he's chasing?"

"Oh yeah? So by your logic, we're no good because we could never contain Lord Brevon huh?" Violet snapped, "Way to rub salt into the wound jackass!" she spat angrily.

"I didn't mean it like that, honestly!" Damian yelped, "I'm sorry!"

"Well this is way sonny, you need to watch what you say otherwise you can offend people." Olaf put in.

"Says the one who loves to insult me all the time…" the cadet growled.

"Are you indicating I am a hypocrite?"

"Do I have to spell it out for ya smart guy?! Maybe I oughta so you can realize what a jerk you are sometimes!"

"You're hardly in any position to label me as a jerk considering your reckless behaviour and immature attitude young man."

"Oh goddamn it, not this again!" Terra moaned in exasperation, "I'm going to the medical bay High Officer! I've had enough stupid bickering from Damian and Olaf!"

"As have I lieutenant." the High Officer muttered, "I'll let them finish arguing first and try to talk some sense into them. Rest well Terra."

"I hope I can…" the she-alien muttered.

She glared at her bickering friends, annoyed that after a crippling defeat like this, they still had the gall to start an argument. Even Violet was now getting involved and she was usually the peacekeeper between Olaf and Damian. Rolling her eyes, Terra dragged herself over to the lift and took it straight up to the medical bay. As she journeyed up in the fast moving elevator, the young lieutenant collected her thoughts and ran them over in her head. How had Steeljaw and his gang known where Coalition HQ was? Gali couldn't have given them the coordinates, she didn't know where Vipos was. Only the Chasers and the Viperians knew this. Had there been some kind of lapse in security? Was one of the Coalition of Planets councillors a secret Viperian spy? Maybe Gali had been that spy the whole time. But then Terra remembered. Steeljaw had told Serpentine that he had "gotten his signal". And now Terra understood. Serpentine had sent a signal to Steeljaw and brought him here! She smacked herself in annoyance on the forehead.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" she ranted, "How could we have been so stupid?! Why the heck did we let Serpentine keep his cybernetics?! We should've known he'd have something like that in his armour! Damn I feel like such a moron! If I ever catch that horrible snake, I'm gonna tear his armour to pieces and throw him in a cell without it! Let's see him call mommy and daddy for help without his stupid armour!"

She folded her arms and slumped against the wall of the lift angrily. She couldn't believe that she hadn't thought about removing Serpentine's armour. Even Torque hadn't considered that idea and he was usually the one with the ideas in the Chaser fleet. What would Torque think to all of this when she told him what had happened? Terra hoped he wouldn't be too upset. This was meant to be a time of celebration and relaxation now Brevon was dead. And instead, it would be a time of despair and anxiety after what had happened here today. Torque wouldn't want to suddenly be worrying about Serpentine so shortly after he'd been arrested.

The lift arrived and Terra stepped out of it. She trudged down the corridor that led to the medical bay and she let herself into the room upon arrival. She got a nasty surprise as she walked inside. To her disbelief, Torque was lying on his hover-bed as expected but he looked even worse than before! He had a lot of bruises that he hadn't had before and he looked as if he'd just been in a fight. Had Serpentine sneaked into the room and beaten him up? Terra ran over to her best friend, her own pain forgotten about as she expressed her horror.

"Torque! Oh my gosh, what happened?!" she exclaimed, "You look dreadful!"

Torque opened his eyes and he looked over at Terra, pleased to see her by his side again.

"Oh hi…Terra…" he said hoarsely, "How's…it going?"

"You didn't answer my question Torque, what happened?!" Terra retorted.

"Oh, sorry…" Torque said feebly, "Anyway…I saw…Gali and a Viperian…going to the…detention block…and I…followed them with…my jet boots. I tried…to stop Serpentine…from escaping…after Gali had let him out. But…I couldn't…and I was defeated…hence my new injuries."

Terra glared at Torque angrily.

"You stupid idiot!" she shouted, "What the heck did you think you were doing, trying to fight Serpentine like this?! Do you WANT to be crippled for life or something you moron?!"

"Terra…I'm sorry…OK?" the commander said feebly.

"Don't you "I'm sorry" me Torque! How do you think I feel seeing you get hurt this badly?!" Terra ranted, "I'm your best friend dammit! Do you think I like seeing you get hurt and worrying if you're ever gonna recover?!"

The Chaser finished off with a series of panting that suggested the whole rant had left her drained physically as well as emotionally. Torque took in his best friend's words and nodded, feeling that Terra had a good point. He had been foolish to fight Serpentine in his condition and because of his stupidity, he may well take longer to recover than what he should have taken. And Torque knew how sad Terra would be if he was to die like this. He took his friend's hand into his own and stroked it softly to comfort the distressed lieutenant.

"You're right…I was a fool…I thought that…I was doing the right thing…trying to stop Serpentine." Torque said, "I didn't…wanna sit out while you all…got into the fight…so I wanted to take part as well. I…shouldn't have been…so reckless. I'm very sorry Terra…I never wanted…to upset you like this. As your…captain though…I promise never to do…that again."

Terra's face softened and she smiled appreciatively at her friend. She stroked his hand in return.

"Oh Torque…I can't stay mad at you." she said softly, "And I understand why you did what you did. You just wanted to stop Serpentine from getting away. I probably would've done the same thing due to how much I hate the guy…"

"Maybe so…" Torque agreed, "Say…did Serpentine get away?"

"He did…" Terra muttered disappointedly, "Steeljaw used Brevon's robots and alien soldiers to distract the High Officer while he and his cronies made a quick getaway. I can't tell you how pissed off I am that they got away! We only just locked up Serpentine and he's already free again!"

"I feel even worse now…" the commander murmured, "If only I hadn't failed to lock him up again!"

"Steeljaw definitely wouldn't be running off home with a smile on his face…" the lieutenant agreed, "But do you know who's fault it is that we've lost the general? OURS! We should've confiscated his cybernetic arms and torso the moment we locked him up! If we'd done just that then Serpentine never would've called Steeljaw for help!"

"Yes…that I agree on…" Torque sighed, "How could…we have been so stupid?"

"I suppose we had no way of expecting that…"

"Maybe so but still, Lord Brevon's the kind of man who installs contingencies in a lot of his tech, which the Viperians wear…"

"That is true…"

A brief silence fell over Torque and Terra before they spoke again.

"Anyways, I suppose you know that Gali turned traitor?" she asked.

"Yes…she's the one who opened Serpentine's cell." Torque muttered, "Did she…escape too?"

"No, she's dead." Terra said casually, "Steeljaw killed her. Good riddance to bad rubbish I say."

"At least…she won't…get away with murder…" Torque sighed, "How's…everybody else?"

"The Chasers are all in need of a good rest, me included." Terra announced, "We're gonna have to leave our serpent friend to the side for a while I'm afraid. We can't chase after them since the Viperians smashed our fleet to pieces when invading the hangar and we're in no condition to fight. I hate to say it…but we can't do anything about Serpentine right about now."

Torque nodded, accepting the grim situation upon which he and his friends had found themselves in.

"Yes…" the captain sighed, "As unfortunate as that is, we…have no choice. We're gonna just have…to sit back, relax…and wait until we're ready…to pay a visit to Vipos."

"Steeljaw and Valka better love their son as much as they can, because when I get my hands on them, they're all gonna be sharing a cell!" the second-in-command growled.

"I'd keep them separated…just to punish them some more…" Torque suggested.

"Good idea." agreed Terra, "Say…mind if I share this bed with you?"

"Sure." Torque said brightly, "You need your…rest too Terra. We…can rest together."

Smiling, the turquoise alien sat down onto the bed beside Torque and then lay down on her back, sighing contently as she began to relax. Torque smiled at her and lay back on his bed, looking up at the ceiling. What was going to happen now Serpentine was free? That was something he couldn't help but wonder. Was he going to get his people to enact revenge on Avalice? And if so…what would happen if he did? Would he destroy the planet? And…kill Lilac? Torque couldn't bear the thought of Serpentine and his family slaughtering Lilac and her friends. They had to be stopped…before they could even so much as plan on how they were going to go about their scheme. He just hoped that the Viperians wouldn't act now…not while his crew were so crippled and disadvantaged…

* * *

 _ **The Chasers are beaten! But they're not broken! Will they be able to track down Serpentine? And what will the Viperians be planning to do now they have him and Brevon's body? Find out next time as our heroes visit the "Planet of the Serpents"...**_


	5. Chapter 5: Planet of the Serpents

_Chapter 5: Planet of the Serpents_

The Viperian fleet cruised silently towards their planet as if they were just casually returning home from a space voyage rather than a big, overblown rescue mission that involved breaking into Coalition HQ and rescuing the Prince of Vipos himself. The occupants inside the ships even felt as if they had done just that, as if their mission earlier had been just a day at the beach for them. That was what made the Viperian race so dangerous to many. They always saw a mission or a task as just a simple job to do and thanks to their gifts at the hands of Lord Brevon, their tasks were often simple. The whole rescue mission had been relatively easy despite the desperate resistance that the puny Chasers had dared to put up. It made Steeljaw wonder why they even bothered trying to fight them since they could never beat them. And even with Brevon's untimely death, they had still managed to beat the Chasers in a fight. And now he was returning home with his beloved son beside him. What another good day for the cyber-snakes this was.

The Viperians passed through the atmosphere of Vipos, which looked about as sickly as the rest of the world with green fog clouding everything below, and they cruised through the green coloured skies towards the hangar bay. It was a large, ugly building just like the rest of the city it was stationed in with rather evil looking architecture and burning, flaming torches dotted all around the roof which gave the building a slight medieval look to it. The flames were a forest-green in colour, making the flames look almost unnatural in appearance despite the fact that this was normal on Vipos. Fires burned green on the planet instead of orange and yellow. The Viperian ships all entered the hangar bay and touched down onto the floor, clearly relieved to be landing back on home soil again. The cyber-snakes piloting them all slithered out of their ships and headed on out of the hangar bay and back to their homes. Steeljaw and Serpentine slithered together, heading out of the hangar bay and off to Vipos Fort, their home and where Queen Valka would be waiting for them. The two could already see the queen's delighted face now and they hadn't even entered the throne room yet. Serpentine inhaled the foul-smelling air through his nose and exhaled out of his mouth. It had been a while since he'd smelt the delicious air of Vipos and it felt good to have the scent in his nostrils again.

"Aaaah...smells just like it always has done." he sighed, "It feels good to be home father."

"I'm glad to hear that my son." Steeljaw said softly, "As much as me and your mother have enjoyed the idea of you being in the great Lord Brevon's army, we have missed having you around. Things were pretty quiet without you."

"I've quite missed your company too father, but I've very much enjoyed my glorious time with Brevon!" Serpentine declared, "It felt good standing tall above the insignificant aliens who populate the galaxy with us! I especially loved getting to shoot many of them to pieces, especially any Chaser who got in my way!"

"And given how we've managed to retrieve Brevon's body, you'll be able to get that glory back." the king purred, glancing behind him and his royal son.

Serpentine looked over his shoulder and the prince smiled at what was behind them. Lying on a hover-bed, floating just behind them, was Brevon's body. Steeljaw had been quick to tell his son that he'd managed to snag the body after the Coalition of Planets had disposed of it. Another thing they could thank the late Councillor Gali for. It was amusing to think that Gali, who hated Viperians and Lord Brevon with a burning passion, had helped them rescue Serpentine and had given them Brevon's body gift-wrapped just by telling them the Coalition was about to dispose of the body. Now they had the evil warlord's body in their hands and could do whatever they wanted to do with it.

"I'm still enraged with that hideous dragon girl for killing him!" Serpentine growled, "How dare she do this to our great warlord?! How dare she?!"

"Gali told me all about Brevon's death." Steeljaw murmured, "I assume she told me actual facts?"

"She did father." the prince replied, "Lilac, the one who ruined Brevon's reputation by defeating him last year, killed him by destroying the Dark Stone, a powerful gem that ended up in his chest after he used it to transform into a dragon! I watched with my own eyes as she finished him off! I couldn't believe that Lilac had finally done it!"

"Well this "Lilac" cretin will get a very nasty surprise when Brevon ends up walking on his own two feet again." the king crowed, "With the tech we have at our disposal, reviving him will be as easy as building ourselves new arms."

"Indeed so father!" Serpentine cackled, "Our master won't be staying dead like that wretched Lilac thinks he will be! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! What I wouldn't give to see her face when she sees Brevon alive again!"

"It'll be the last face she'll ever make..." Steeljaw swore, his voice dark and sinister.

The two cyber-snakes entered Vipos Fort. The front door was huge and the frame around it had a shape that made it look like a huge mouth waiting to swallow up anybody who walked inside. To complete the look, there were even "eyes" carves into the wall just above the door and they were lit up by flaming torches inside, making the front of Vipos Fort look like a stony creature. It was a look that suited Serpentine and his parents and they liked it that way. It told anybody who saw the very door itself what the fort's occupants were like. The prince and king slithered through the main hall and headed on up to the throne room, which was on the top floor of the fortress. They slithered up sloping ramps that were in place of stairs to reach the top floor. Without legs, they had no need for stairs. As soon as they arrived at the throne room, Steeljaw knocked on the door and waited for an answer.

"Come in." hissed a fearsome voice.

It was Queen Valka as expected. She was home and it sounded as if she was eating something. Steeljaw opened the door and let himself in, Serpentine slithering behind him and the hover-bed with Brevon's body staying put for they were waiting a moment before showing it to Valka. It would make a nice surprise for her. The two snakes approached the queen, who was sitting on the throne of Vipos Fort and devouring a huge meaty drumstick that must have once been somebody's leg. She tore the meat off of the huge bone with her fangs and swallowed it whole without even chewing. Snakes never chewed when they ate and Viperians were no different. Valka ate the bone dry and tossed it over her shoulder, snapping her fingers and demanding another one to which the servant, a yellow female Viperian with less impressive cybernetics, brought for her. She picked up the drumstick and then held her arms out as the queen acknowledged her husband.

"Ssssteeljaw!" she cried delightedly, "My delightful hussssband issss back! I wassss jusssst having lunch while I wassss waiting for you!"

"I can see that my dear." Steeljaw purred, eyeing the bare bones that littered the floor behind the throne, "You didn't happen to save any for me did you?"

"I ordered the sssservants to ssssave you ssssome drumstickssss for when you came home." Valka said brightly, "I'm on my lasssst one right now. You can jussst tell the sssservants when you want your meal my king."

"Thanks my queen." the cobra said, "Anyways Valka, I return home with good news."

"I expected as much..." Valka said with a wicked smile on her face as she sank her teeth into the thick flesh and ripped it off the bone.

"I have successfully managed to retrieve our son, no complications whatsoever." Steeljaw announced, moving to the side so that his wife could see.

Valka swallowed what was in her mouth and looked ahead. Standing before her with a proud, scaly smile on his lips, was her beloved son. She hadn't seen him in a long time and now she was looking at him again. Serpentine looked very pleased to see her. Valka put down her drumstick and slithered over to her only child, her eyes twinkling with glee.

"SSSSERPENTINE!" she hollered, scooping him up into her arms and hugging him as if tomorrow was never going to come.

"Greetings mother!" Serpentine cried back, embracing his mother happily, "It's so good to see you again!"

"I feel the ssssame way my child!" the python exclaimed, "When I got your disstressss ssssignal, I began to worry about you and I knew that you had to be ssssaved immediately! That'ssss why I ssssent your father to resssscue you! He even volunteered to do the deed himsssself!"

"I'm glad to hear that mother." the snake said graciously, "Thanks ever so much for sending father to break me out of that wretched headquarters!"

"You're welcome." Valka said, nuzzling her son's cheek, "Ssssadly though, thissss meanssss that Coalition HQ won't be sssso eassssy to break into the next time. Now their location's been compromissssed, they'll relocate their headquarterssss. A pity really, I'd have loved to go there mysssself and tear the place apart for imprisoning you!"

"Coalition HQ doesn't matter anymore my darling wife." Steeljaw announced, "We got our son back, that's all that matters. And besides, we have something else that may interest you."

He then turned to the door, which opened up as the hover-bed pushed through them and drifted towards Valka as if drawn to her like a moth to a flame. The cyber-python stared in disbelief at what lay on the bed. She had not expected to see Lord Brevon again after he had blessed the Viperian race with his technology, less so had she expected to see him **dead**. She stared at the hole in the corpse's chest as if unable to believe that this was real. She even took in the fact the corpse lacked his trademark armour.

"WHAT ON VIPOSSSS HASSSS HAPPENED TO OUR LORD?!" she shrieked, "WHO DID THISSSS TO HIM?! WHO?!"

"That Avalician Dragon Girl I told you about last year." Serpentine announced, "Brevon invaded Avalice in hopes of making it pay for humiliating him and he came close to doing so! He stole an evil artefact known as the Dark Stone and used it to make himself more powerful! But the stone ended up in his chest after he transformed and Lilac destroyed it, killing him instantly! I saw the whole thing happen with my own two eyes!"

"The Chasers brought it to Coalition HQ, no doubt to prove to their stupid leader that Brevon's dead, and the Coalition disposed of it. But I managed to retrieve the body so that we can revive our glorious master." Steeljaw added.

Valka took in what had been said and nodded. She was having a hard time believing that Brevon had actually been killed and that she was staring at his corpse right now. Yet she was and Brevon truly was dead. But hearing what Steeljaw had said made her smile. Her smile didn't compliment her in anyway, it made her look even uglier than she already did. She looked at her husband and cackled.

"What a brilliant idea..." she hissed gleefully, "We could resurrect Brevon with cyborg technology! We have revived fallen Viperians before with our technology and we'll be able to do the ssssame for Lord Brevon! Ha, ha, ha, ha! The universssse better not resssst, for Brevon will NOT be sssstaying dead..."

She cackled some more as she glanced down at Brevon's dead body. She couldn't have been more fortunate to have obtained this from her husband and now she could thank Brevon for what he'd done for the Viperians by bringing him back alive. And the fact they would be using his own tech made things so much better and so much more appropriate for the evil warlord's resurrection. Valka could hardly wait to get started...

* * *

Three weeks had passed since Serpentine had been broken out of Coalition HQ. It had taken exactly this long just to replace the destroyed Chaser fleet and for most of the Chasers to recover from their battle with the Viperians. Torque in particular had taken longer to recover than any of his team mates. Terra, Violet, Damian and Olaf had recovered in a few days whereas Torque had been bed-bound until near the end of the third week. He had been back on his feet for two days and had been exercising to get himself into shape after three weeks of lying around doing nothing. The Chaser looked a lot better, his bruises gone and his colour healthier looking. He even felt better too. But he was a little worried about the Viperians given how they've had three whole weeks without any interference from the Chasers. Had they already carried out a new attack? Were they on their way to invade Avalice and take revenge against the planet for Lord Brevon's death? So far, the Coalition of Planets had heard nothing concerning the Viperians. The council had warned their worlds about Serpentine's escape and had told them to keep an eye on the Viperians to make sure they didn't go anywhere near Avalice. The Chasers had heard that in over three weeks, not a single Viperian ship had approached Avalice, meaning that they hadn't decided to attack yet. This made Torque wonder why they hadn't gone ahead with the inevitable revenge invasion. Had he jumped the gun and assumed something they weren't going to do? No. Lilac, an Avalician, had killed Lord Brevon! Surely Serpentine would've begged his mother and father to stage an invasion of the planet! He'd want revenge against Avalice for his lord's death! The captain of the Chaser fleet had a nasty feeling that there was something more sinister abound. But what?

He still had such thoughts as he, Terra, Violet, Damian and Olaf stood before the Coalition Council to receive their new task. He had to fight away the thoughts so he could focus on what the High Officer was saying. He looked as stern as ever as if something was bothering him deeply. Given recent events, Torque could hardly blame his superior for being grim-faced. It wasn't helped by the fact that after the whole Viperian attack three weeks ago, Coalition HQ had to be relocated so that if the Viperians dared to attack again, they would find nothing but empty space. The whole thing had annoyed the High Officer as if moving Coalition HQ had been a huge inconvenience that shouldn't have happened. Coalition HQ now stood in a less attractive area of space. There were no fancy colours or phenomenon's around, just empty space. It was as if the space station was trying to make it even harder to find them. In order to avoid another Viperian attack, the Coalition of Planets was more than willing to try what it could to make sure they couldn't be found again. Torque and his four main crew members stood to attention as the High Officer's four faces moved their mouths in unison, all forming the same words as each other as he spoke.

"Commander Torque, it is good to see you're looking a lot healthier again." he said, "How do you feel now?"

"Ready for action if I'm honest sir." Torque said bluntly, "Especially since the longer Serpentine is free, the more chance he has of bringing his kind over to Avalice to avenge Lord Brevon."

"I'm amazed three weeks have gone by and the spies sent to keep an eye on the planet haven't reported any Viperian ships coming near..." Terra murmured, "Surely if Serpentine wants Avalice to pay for Brevon's death that badly, he'd have attacked by now?"

"Unless of course he wants us to think he's not going to do such a thing..." Damian suggested, "Maybe they're trying to fool us, lower our guards and make us forget about that planet! Well if that's their game, we ain't falling for it!"

"Indeed sonny, we're not as stupid as Steeljaw thinks we are." Olaf muttered agreeably.

"Oh my god, Olaf and Damian agree on something?! Pinch me, I must be dreaming!" giggled Violet.

"I don't think that's the case..." Torque murmured, "They might be preparing for the invasion and the fact it's taking them so long just proves that it's going to be big. They could be building a huge mech or laser cannon or something to launch on Avalice and destroy it."

"A sound theory captain, which is why we have to arrest Serpentine, Valka and Steeljaw before they can go anywhere near the planet." the High Officer announced, "The inhabitants may have killed Lord Brevon but we cannot allow the Viperians to invade Avalice. They could be overwhelmed by their numbers and sheer power. Also Brevon nearly sent Avalice to its doom, we can't let the Viperians get that same kind of near-success. We have to arrest the king, queen and prince. Without them, they'll be aimless and significantly weakened."

"Uh, newsflash, Steeljaw kicked our asses three weeks ago!" Terra noted, "What chance do we have of arresting him?!"

"Steeljaw is notoriously endurable and powerful yes, which is why Tegan was so kind as to donate us some new weapons you can use on the Viperians." the four-faced leader announced, "You are to be given EMP blasters. One hit from the blasters will be enough to knock out the Viperians and short-circuit their cybernetics."

"Those sound pretty handy." Damian said approvingly, "Just a pity we didn't have them three weeks ago..."

"We couldn't have known we'd need them then." Torque noted, "Well now we have them, our mission will be a lot easier."

"I bet Steeljaw won't be too pleased when we give him a mouthful of EMP blasts!" Terra cried enthusiastically, "It'll serve him and Valka right for eating my brother!"

Torque nodded. He had heard from Terra that Steeljaw had revealed to her that he and Valka had devoured Phoenix's dead body. The revelation had disgusted him and unlike Terra, he was wondering if Steeljaw had been lying just to make the lieutenant angry. Whether he was or not didn't matter at this point. All that mattered was arresting Serpentine and putting him back where he belongs. He even hoped that his team could arrest Valka and Steeljaw for orchestrating the whole rescue mission and causing serious damage to the Chaser fleet three weeks ago.

"So Commander, are you and your friends ready to undertake this mission?" the High Officer asked.

"Ready as we'll ever be." Torque declared, "We've got a Viperian army to stop before they can think of going near Avalice and three fiends to put behind bars. With any luck, we'll have all of that done in no time."

"I sincerely hope so." the High Officer said grimly, his four faces showing the same grim expression, "Good luck commander. The Coalition awaits your return."

"Thanks sir. We'll be back as soon as possible." the commander saluted.

With nothing left to say, he turned around and headed on out the door. His four team mates turned and followed him out of the room. The council, who had been utterly silent throughout the whole meeting, watched them leave with a mixture of worry and hope from each of them. They were glad to see that the Chasers were ready to chase down the escaped Serpentine and his parents but at the same time, they couldn't help but worry a little for Torque and his crew. The Viperians were powerful enemies, nearly on par with Brevon himself and many of the Chasers had fallen to Brevon's might. Would they lose even more Chasers to the Viperians as the mission was carried out? Tegan seemed the most confident of the whole council since she had given them the weapons necessary to take down the cyber-snakes.

"High Officer sir, do you think Torque and his crew will succeed?" asked Flabbergaster.

"Given they now have Tegan's EMP blasters, they will do." the four-faced alien said bluntly.

"I sure hope they do." Artemis said nervously, "Those horrible reptiles have done enough harm to the galaxy! It's bad enough that Brevon himself gave them the cybernetics that make them a credible threat!"

"So getting rid of them will be like destroying what remains of Brevon himself." Armourhide murmured.

"When we arrest Serpentine and his parents, we should remove their cybernetics so they can't call for help like Serpentine did three weeks ago." Tegan noted, "That's how this whole thing started."

"And we shall not be repeating that mistake." the High Officer said matter-of-factly, "The next time Serpentine ends up in a cell here, he's going to be STAYING there."

"And a darn good thing too." Flabbergaster grumbled.

The council nodded in agreement, all sharing the same viewpoint. With the matter of the Viperians now being dealt with, the council could focus on other matters and await updates from Torque and his crew. But as they changed the subject, neither member let the mission leave their minds. They'd still be thinking about the mission as the chatted. But for now, all they could do was sit and wait while the Chasers set off to reclaim their escapee and his rescuers...

* * *

A long while later, the Chaser flagship departed from Coalition HQ and began cruising through the starry void, heading off to its destination. Torque and his crew had all packed the supplies they'd need for the journey and had boarded the ship, keen to get to Vipos as soon as possible. Being part of the Coalition of Planets meant that they knew the coordinates of every planet so far discovered. They knew the way to Vipos and upon boarding, Violet had been quick to punch in the coordinates and set course for Vipos. The navigator held on tightly to the controls as the ship positioned itself and prepared to jump into light speed. She had hoped that she would never set foot on Vipos given how hideous the planet was according to descriptions of it. But she knew full well that in a job like this, you had to grit your teeth and bear it. The crew all braced themselves as the Chaser flagship's hyper drive activated and the ship rocketed off into light speed, vanishing deep into space in the blink of an eye. To the crew onboard, they didn't feel as if they were moving that fast. The fast moving blurs of blue and white outside told them otherwise.

A few minutes into the journey, Torque, Terra, Damian and Olaf all sat back and relaxed while Violet kept at her post, never once letting go of the controls. It was almost as if her hands were glued to the joysticks. She turned and looked over her shoulder, flashing a smile at her friends.

"OK pals, we should be arriving at Vipos in a few minutes. Sit back and enjoy the peace because we won't be getting any of it when we arrive." she announced, still keeping up her chipper attitude to keep everybody's spirits up.

"Thanks navigator." Torque replied.

Violet smiled and then turned back to the cockpit window to keep an eye on what was ahead. Even in light speed it was highly recommended to keep a good watch ahead for anything. There was nothing to do on the ship as it continued its journey so Torque decided to strike up a conversation, more to fill in the silence than anything.

"So...you all ready for this?" he asked curiously.

"Definitely!" Damian cried, "I'm always ready for action!"

"A trait that sadly gets you into a trouble a lot." Olaf noted.

"Olaf, please don't start." Torque sighed, "I don't want you and Damian bickering before the mission even starts OK?"

The elder Chaser nodded and fell silent, feeling ashamed that he had nearly caused his team trouble before the mission had even started. Damian smirked, pleased to see him put in his place by the commander. Torque noted this and frowned.

"And you can wipe that smile off your face cadet." he said sternly, "You're no better than Olaf is."

The young Chaser gaped, surprised that Torque had spotted him smirking but he said nothing. It was never wise to argue with your commander no matter what the subject was. The commander is always right. Damian looked away, embarrassed, while Torque looked over at Terra. The she-alien looked very tense as if she couldn't relax for this mission, no matter how hard she tried. There was a steel edge to her expression as if this was more than just a simple retrieve mission. To her, this is a very personal affair and Torque grew worried on how Terra would handle the whole situation. She could make foolish mistakes and get herself in trouble. The he-alien knew that he had to keep Terra calm before they arrived. He reached over and touched his lieutenant's arm gently. Terra seemed to snap out of whatever thoughts were running through her head for she shook her head and blinked heavily. She turned to face Torque, surprised to feel his hand on her arm.

"Yes? What is it?" she asked politely.

Torque had expected Terra to be annoyed but her pleasant reaction had come as a surprise to him. Feeling at ease, he answered.

"Please don't lose your temper for this one Terra." Torque said cryptically, "There's no room for error once we get to Vipos. If you lose control and go mad...you'll be dead. That is a fact. So please, remain calm and remain focused. I can't afford to lose you or any of my crew. I've lost too many good men and women under my watch, I can't lose anymore."

"I can understand that." Terra said, "But please understand buddy that those monsters ate my brother's dead body! I'm sorry but it's going to be hard to overlook that. I'll try to remain calm but it's going to be hard. Going to Vipos is just reminding me of what's become of my brother. Killed by Brevon and devoured by Steeljaw and Valka."

"I know, I'm as disgusted as your are." the commander said, "Though a part of me thinks Steeljaw was lying just to make you mad."

"You really think so?"

"It's just a theory mind you. I could be wrong but I'd like to think that I'm not for this one."

"I hope you're right too...Steeljaw lying about the whole thing would be a lot easier to get over than him being honest about it."

"Indeed."

The two friends let a small silence pass between them as they allowed the conversation to sink in.

"So, what's the plan for when we touch down?" Terra asked curiously.

"Our EMP blasters may well make this mission easier than before but we need to take in the fact there's only a few of us against the entire Viperian population." Torque noted, "I've only got a crew, they've got pretty much everybody who lives there. So we have to be smart and strategic about this."

"I humbly agree commander." Olaf added, "Our mission is pretty much to arrest Valka, Steeljaw and Serpentine so we should focus mostly on apprehending those baneful cyber-snakes. The population will mostly just get in the way so we'll have to avoid as much of it as possible."

"That we have to indeed." Torque agreed, "We could try landing as close to their fortress as possible and then we could sneak inside, taking out any guards that happen to be in the way."

"How do we get close to their fortress without being detected?" Damian asked, "I'm sure that with them being empowered by Brevon's tech and all, they must have highly advanced detection systems."

"I wondered that too." Terra agreed, "I wonder if our ship's cloaking device will do the trick?"

"It may do or it may not." Torque murmured, "They could have heat sensors so even being invisible wouldn't hide us. This is why I said we have to land _as close as possible_ to the fortress. If we're lucky, we might be out of range of any sensor equipment they have and won't notice us until it's too late."

"It's risky." said Terra, "But when you're a Chaser, risks have to be taken in order to finish the chase."

"Indeed so." the commander said, "Violet, when we arrive at Vipos, make sure you land carefully so we don't get spotted." he called out to the navigator.

"Will do commander!" Violet called back without even looking over her shoulder, her eyes still fixed on what was ahead.

They were almost coming to the end of their hyper-drive journey. Violet noticed how the blue blurs were getting fainter all around the ship as it slowed down from hyper-speed. The time to prepare for the invasion was now. There was no going back. The hyper-drive would take a while to re-charge so leaving in a hurry wasn't an option. The navigator shuddered as the blackness of space returned and a small dot appeared in front of the ship. Straight ahead was Vipos, the one planet in the whole universe that no sane person would ever dare visit. Violet wondered if she and her friends would survive the visit and succeed in their mission. She looked over her shoulder. Torque, Terra, Olaf and Damian immediately noticed that Violet's usual chipper attitude was gone and she was in one of her rare serious moods. The steely look in her eyes said it all.

"We've arrived, and for the first time ever I'm not happy I have to say that." Violet sighed.

"Thanks Vi." Torque responded, "I'll pipe up the crew and prepare for the mission. When we land, the five of us will go first and break into the fortress. Then we'll call for the rest of our crew to come in and aid us when the time is right."

"Why not all of us go at once?" Damian asked.

"Because that's what Serpentine and his parents will expect, a big crew-sized invasion." the commander replied, "If it's just the five of us, they won't be expecting more of us to be here. We'll catch them by surprise."

"A pretty clever plan if I say so myself." Olaf nodded, "Serpentine and his vile parents will not see our assault coming at all."

"And for once, I agree with Olaf." the young cadet muttered, "That's something I don't get to say a lot."

Terra giggled whereas Torque just nodded, too focused on the mission to even so much as smile at Damian's ironic remark.

"Get your weapons ready, we're entering possibly the worst hell of our lives." he ordered.

The others nodded and got up to prepare their EMP blasters for battle. The moment they'd been dreading was here. They were going to land on and venture into the universe's most unloved planet ever discovered. With any luck, their mission would be a success and they'd make up for failing to stop Steeljaw and his minions from rescuing Serpentine three weeks back. For Torque though, it was more than that. As he picked up his EMP blaster, he allowed his thoughts to stray away from the task at hand and think about the one person who was always on his mind. Lilac the Dragon Girl. He was doing this for her sake, and for the sake of all Avalicians since it was likely Serpentine would want to get his kind to wage war against Avalice for the death of Brevon. He had to succeed otherwise Lilac and friends were in for a foe potentially worse than Brevon himself. They had never been up against Brevon and his entire army, just Brevon and a portion of his army. If he failed, the dragon would have to fight against a whole planet of Viperians. All Viperians on Vipos were cyborg demons who loved to worship Brevon and carry out actions in his name. Avalice wouldn't stand a chance against an entire planet population. But as Torque pondered about this, another thought crossed his mind.

Were all Viperians bad? He hadn't met any good Viperians in his time as a Chaser but then again, he had never been to Vipos itself. Anybody who had been there hadn't lived to tell much about it. Now he came to think of it, not much was really known about Vipos aside from its inhabitants and hideous appearance. Nobody even knew what the overall population of the planet was. It was estimated to be at least three million but there could well be more. Maybe there were good Viperians living there after all? And if so...how many? If Torque found them, he'd be quick to side with them against Valka and Steeljaw. If there were good Viperians, they might well be against their rulers and willing to help overthrow them. It was a pleasant thought but the Chaser Commander didn't dare get too adventurous. He wasn't here to learn more about Vipos and find out if there were good people there. He had to arrest Valka, Steeljaw and Serpentine and prevent a possible revenge attack against Avalice. Maybe another time he'd find answers to those questions. He set his mind back onto task as he primed his weapon.

However, any hopes of arriving on Vipos undetected were quickly shattered, unknown to the crew onboard the ship. As the Chaser flagship approached the planet, it passed a bunch of asteroids that floated not too far away from the planet. The asteroids were not in fact real asteroids, but space probes disguised as them. Their bodies looked rough and stony as an asteroid should do but beneath the fake rock body was a sophisticated piece of machinery that sported a telescoping lens that could protrude out from the fake craters and see for miles around. They were so advanced that they had even seen the ship coming out of hyperspace before it had even slowed down to the cruising speed it was at now. And as the Chaser flagship headed towards Vipos, the asteroid cameras watched them, their spying work unnoticed by anybody onboard due to their convincing disguise. Even if anybody had decided to look over at the fake asteroids for any reason, they wouldn't see the telescoping lens for the shadows of the craters concealed them brilliantly. But nobody looked at them due to how ordinary they looked. It was a genius idea that was paying off excellently for the people they had been built and operated by. The Chasers had no idea that as they were approaching Vipos, the planet itself already knew that they were coming...

* * *

Meanwhile, Valka, Steeljaw and Serpentine were all gathered together in a laboratory underneath the Royal Fortress and working hard on resurrecting their deceased warlord. In three whole weeks, they had managed to patch up the hole in his chest by putting in an artificial heart, a bunch of circuitry and neatly fitting a new chest plate over it to keep it all in place. Brevon's body had also been given some cybernetic upgrades in the arms, legs and even his head. There wasn't an inch of flesh or bone visible on him anymore. He looked like he was wearing a new suit of armour. The remaining organic pieces of his body were all his other organs, his skin and his flesh but any visible skin was now covered up by metal plating and armour pieces and his organs had been given some technical additions to make them work again. He had even been given an implant in his brain to keep it working after they brought him back alive. The idea was that they would pull a switch, send jolts of electricity surging through his body and the implant in his brain would keep sending the necessary currants through his body to keep it alive. It would be like having his own battery for Brevon.

Serpentine watched as Valka placed another half to a face plate that she had constructed for Brevon. It had been moulded perfectly to fit his face and contained a metal optic that would function as his new eyes when he was finished. In order to keep the corpse from decomposing too much, Valka and Steeljaw had kept it in cryogenic freeze for whenever they didn't need it. They had spent most of the three weeks just constructing the new armour and pieces necessary to bring Brevon back. Now they were putting all the pieces together to begin their resurrection process, like children constructing a buildable toy together. Serpentine had mostly watched for he wasn't as good as building as his parents were while Valka and Steeljaw did most of the work. The Viperian Queen neatly slotted the face plate half onto Brevon's head and held it tightly in place while Steeljaw welded it into place, taking great care not to damage the organic head underneath.

"I can hardly wait to see those Chaser's faces when they see Lord Brevon back on his feet…and more menacing than ever before." Steeljaw purred.

"I know, it'll be mosssst delightful indeed!" Valka hissed as her husband began welding, "They think they're rid of him for good, well thankssss to that traitor in their rankssss Gali, we have him here and very shortly, he'ssss going to be resssstored to his former glory!"

"I'm so excited mother!" Serpentine hollered, "I can't wait to see Brevon back alive again! And once he's back alive, we can invade Avalice and destroy that wretched world for what it's done to him!"

"That it will." the queen agreed, "I'm sssstill sssseething with hatred over the fact they've done thissss! I never thought that our glorious Lord Brevon would ever be defeated! But Avalice hassss ruined that glorioussss image of his and now it'll pay!"

"It shouldn't take too long for us to finish dear." Steeljaw announced, switching the welder off to see how he'd done, "In an hour or two, we'll be ready to bring him back alive. I think we should let our son be the one to give Brevon the "shock of life" don't you Valka?"

"I think our sssson is the only one deserving of ssssuch an honour." the alien python hissed agreeably, "We shall let him be the one to pull the sssswitch when the time is right…"

The queen was suddenly interrupted by a bleeping sound on one of the control panels nearby. The two Viperians looked up from their work and Valka slithered over to the computer monitor to see what the alert was about. It was their proximity alarm sounding and the queen was curious to see what had set it off. She stared intently at the screen as she pressed a button and was rewarded with a visual contact from the disguised probes. Her eyes widened as she saw a familiar looking ship cruise by the camera and head towards the planet's atmosphere. She was so taken aback by this surprising and unexpected sight that she almost couldn't believe it. But then the python regained herself. She should've expected an invasion from those impudent Chasers. Her husband had trashed their spaceships and helped to break out her son after all. Did they know about Brevon's body and were here to get it back as well though? Valka had no idea but wasn't willing to take that risk.

"Sssso…those Chassssers have decided to invade our home world have they?!" the queen snarled.

"Given how me and my men destroyed their ships, it's not surprising they took so long to finally come after us." Steeljaw gloated, "How many Chaser ships are there?"

"Jusssst the one, but it's their flagship." Valka announced, "It'll sssstill be a threat and likely contains many Chassssers inside."

"I don't like this mother!" Serpentine barked, "It sounds like they're trying to fool us! It doesn't seem in their character to send just one ship full of Chasers after us!"

"I undersssstand your concernssss my sssson." Valka said softly, "Which is why we're going to ssssend our pet assassin to bring that ship down and make those Chassssers ripe for the picking."

"I like the sound of that!" Serpentine cried excitedly, "It's been a while since I've seen Shade in action!"

"That's because she's been very busy guarding our fortress lately." Steeljaw confirmed, "Anyway, we'll give her the call and send her out this very minute."

"You two keep working on Brevon, I'll call Shade." Serpentine offered.

The king and queen smiled at their prince. They couldn't have been more fortunate to have a son as loyal and helpful as their own. Valka and Steeljaw proceeded to resume their progress while Serpentine slithered off to call Shade. He was going to enjoy watching her tear the Chaser flagship apart. Last time he'd seen her in action, she had torn apart a fleet of scout ships with her bare hands. She would be perfect for taking care of the intruders. The cyber-snake approached a communications device and switched it on…

* * *

Up in the sky, the Chaser flagship had broken through the atmosphere of the planet and was now cruising down towards the ground. The Chasers were now on Vipos, and not a single one of them liked what they were seeing as they entered. Torque and his friends took in the sickly green sky and the black trees dotted around on the ground with utter disgust. They could see some of the cities although nobody wanted to see them up close given how abhorrent they looked. There was a green mist that hung in the air, making the Chasers wonder if the planet was even inhabitable for them. Violet screwed her face up with repulsion as she saw the scenery below.

"I heard that Vipos was ugly, but this defies all descriptions of the planet!" she gagged, "I feel sick just being here…"

"No wonder Serpentine and his mommy and daddy love it here. The planet's as ugly as they are." Damian muttered.

"This is one place I regret having to catalogue in my Universe Encyclopaedia…" Olaf sighed, "I'm tempted to just delete the entry and pretend it never exists."

"Well like it or not, we have to be here if we're gonna re-arrest Serpentine and also capture his hideous parents." muttered Terra, "I'm not leaving here until we capture them all!"

She had her EMP blaster in her hands and she clocked it, ready for firing. She yearned to be the one to point and shoot at Steeljaw as they stormed the fortress.

"Remember the plan everybody." Torque announced, his EMP blaster slung over his shoulder, "Us five infiltrate the place and then we call in back-up when the time is right. Catch them off-guard and make them easier for us to catch."

"I remember commander." Damian announced, "And we won't fail you."

"We'll succeed or die trying." Olaf added, "Though I'd rather not die right now…"

"If this plan works, nobody will be dying today." the captain said, "Violet, any signs of the Royal Fortress yet?"

"I see it." the purple-skinned Chaser announced, "It's hard to miss given how much it stands out in terms of size. It's even uglier than the rest of the city it's in."

Torque glanced out of the cockpit window and saw that indeed, the Royal Fortress was in sight. As much as he hated to admit it, the captain was silently impressed by the sheer size of the place and how strong it looked. Attacking it head on clearly wouldn't do much to it. The Viperians sure knew how to make the home of their rulers look intimidating and impressive at the same time. But the Chaser commander would not hesitate even for a minute to destroy the place if he had to. Once he arrested Serpentine, Valka and Steeljaw, he may do just that.

"That's the place alright." Torque confirmed, "See how close you think you should land this vessel to it Vi."

"If you want my opinion sir, I want to land as far away from it as possible." the navigator scowled, "But then back-up would take forever to arrive. I'll try landing over there just outside the city." she pointed to an area on the outskirts of the city that lay below them on the ground, "Nobody will notice us there, especially with our cloaking system on."

As she said this, she pulled a lever on the control panel. Inside the chip, nothing seemed to happen but outside, anyone who happened to see the ship would notice that it seemed to be vanishing into thin air like a magician's magic trick. The flagship's cloaking systems were activating and they worked by changing the colours of the ship to fit the colours that were around it. It was effectively invisible to the naked eye. Even the sound of its engines were now masked by the cloaking system. Nobody would see or hear the ship arriving. Unless there was somebody with heat-detection technology…

As the Chaser flagship flew closer to the ground, a lone metallic figure was watching the descent with great interest. The figure could see the invisible ship thanks to heat-detection software built into the huge visor that took up most of its face. To the onlooker, it was as if the ship wasn't even invisible. This was Shade, Valka and Steeljaw's pet assassin. Strangely enough though, she wasn't a Viperian. She was a bipedal creature whose appearance made it very ambiguous as to what kind of species she was. The only discernible thing about her was a metallic tail but even that didn't really give any indicators as to what she was. Shade seemed to be a cyborg, her body looking very metallic all over although it was possible she was just somebody in a mech suit. She may even be just a machine. Nobody knew for sure. She had pointed shoulders and thick forearms with slots set into them. Twin blades deployed out of those slots and she had them drawn out now. They were long and sharp with a downwards point like a barb. Shade also had a built-in jetpack that allowed her to fly.

Shade was a ruthless, efficient killer. She was deathly swift and very powerful in combat and was also known to be a silent killer. It was rumoured that she couldn't speak, or that she could and chose not to. Shade was second only to the late Lord Brevon when it came to the number of Chasers she had slaughtered. Brevon himself had been impressed with her effectiveness in battle. Shade didn't seem to have any particular feelings about her tasks and just simply followed orders without question, something she had been programmed to do to the letter. The metallic mercenary activated her jetpack and began to fly up towards the Chaser flagship. Her blades glinted in the sunlight as she soared towards her prey.

The Chasers onboard were completely unaware of this. Shade's armour was made of a special kind of metal that deflected radar beams, making her near impossible to detect. Even if she wasn't, the crew wouldn't have had time to brace themselves. The assassin was coming in too quickly for the ship to dodge as she came at them, blades glistening and ready to cut the entire crew to pieces. The Chasers all cried out as they felt something smash through one of the wings of the ship as if it was made of paper rather than metal. The vessel shuddered from the impact and Torque cried out as the ship banked to the right sharply. One of the wings had a massive hole from where Shade had just ploughed straight through, making it impossible to fly with the air rushing through the hole and tugging the ship down as if there was an invisible hand grabbing hold of the wing.

"What's happening?!" the commander yelled frantically, "Is somebody shooting at us?!"

"Must be!" Violet screeched, "Our right wing's been penetrated! We can't stay airborne like this!"

"Then land us quickly before this becomes a crash-landing!" Torque cried out, "Looks like the stealthy approach isn't gonna work after all!"

"If we're being shot at, that means we've been discovered!" shrieked Damian, "Those Viperians are more alert than we thought!"

Torque nodded. This mission was already going belly-up and the Chasers hadn't even landed yet! Was fate out to get him and his crew or something? Torque wished dearly that Lilac and her friends were here now. Things always seemed to go better when he was with them. He, Terra, Damian and Olaf quickly sat down and fastened themselves in while Violet steered the ship and headed down to the ground. She tugged hard on the joysticks as she tried to slow the ship's descent. It was getting harder to do so now one of the wings was damaged. Shade followed the ship down to the ground, clearly intending to attack it again. But the ship managed to land before she could land another blow on it. The landing legs deployed and the ship came to a heavy halt as it touched down on the ground. The landing was so heavy that anybody who was standing was knocked off their feet. Torque felt his seat shudder under the impact of the ship's landing. He shook himself off and unbuckled from his seat.

"Whoo…anyone hurt?" he asked, "You all OK?"

"I'm not sure if the fact our mission's started off with a hard landing qualifies as "OK" commander." Violet said grimly.

"Well we're all alive so that's something to be grateful for." Terra noted, "What hit us though?"

"I strongly believe it was a missile strike." Olaf murmured, "Either way, we'll have to get repairing that wing if we have any hope of leaving this abhorrent world."

"We can worry about leaving later." Torque muttered, "For now, we've gotta get outta here before any Viperians come investigating."

He was up on his feet and out of the cockpit before anybody else could unfasten their seatbelts. Terra followed him closely behind with Damian, Olaf and Violet just behind her. They all had their EMP blasters in hand, knowing for definite they would need them. The five Chasers all exited the ship, pounding down the docking ramp before it had even fully opened. As they left their ship, they were quickly hit by the rancid smell of the planet's atmosphere. If death had a scent, chances are it would smell like Vipos. Torque almost gagged as the smell crept into his nostrils and he clutched his nose to block it out. Terra clasped a hand over her mouth, trying not to vomit.

"Oh god, it stinks!" she gagged.

"This odour is so repulsive it could kill somebody!" Olaf choked.

"How can the Viperians stand this scent?! It's lethal!" Violet moaned, clutching her nose so tightly she looked as if she was trying to crush it.

"We're never gonna be effective if we fight with his horrible scent around us." Torque muttered, "Air helmets on everybody!" he ordered.

Nobody waited to be asked twice. The five Chasers all took out small capsules and broke them over their heads. This caused a soft flexible substance to pour out of the capsules and form a spherical shape around their heads. The substance then became hard, forming a transparent helmet that helped them breathe in outer space and block out bad smells. They'd be able to concentrate a lot easier now with the smell unable to reach them.

"Man that feels better!" Damian cried, "So what do we do now Torque?"

"We hide and wait for the Viperians to investigate the ship." the captain announced, "If anybody dares slither aboard, the other crew members will dispatch them quickly. They're all armed too. Once some Viperians begin investigating, we sneak towards the fortress and break in."

"And then we give their majesties a royal greeting!" Terra exclaimed.

"Um lieutenant? I think we'll have to wait a moment on that…" Olaf said, his voice sounding a little far away.

Terra turned to see what was bothering the chief scientist. He was looking straight ahead as Shade descended from the sky and touched down, her feet softly crunching on the gravel. The Chasers all leapt back in alarm, taken aback by the surprise appearance of this strange robot. Torque's eyes widened in utter horror upon seeing the assassin standing before him. His hands shook and his knees felt weak. The others didn't seem familiar with Shade but they could see that Torque seemed to know her. His terror was unmistakeable.

"No…no…not you!" he gasped, "Why did it have to be you?!"

"You know this bucket of bolts buddy?" Terra asked curiously.

"I wish I didn't…" Torque said grimly, "This is Shade, Valka's pet assassin. She was responsible for murdering almost as many Chasers as Brevon himself. I was once forced to watch as she and Brevon…both murdered my captain together. They dissected him piece by piece! And Shade kept his heart as a trophy to remember that day…"

"That's sick!" Violet shrieked.

"I know…" Torque muttered, a single tear trickling down his face. He didn't wipe it away, not wanting to show weakness in front of this vile monster.

"Hey Shade!" he barked, "You still have my captain's heart don't you?! I bet you've come to take mine now haven't you?! HAVEN'T YOU?!"

Shade didn't respond. She stood there, her visor fixed on her prey. It was as if she hadn't acknowledged that Torque had spoken.

"I don't think metal head's in the mood for a chat captain." Damian murmured.

"She isn't. She was always the silent type." Torque agreed, "I've never once heard her speak. I even wonder if she can."

"Is anyone other than me puzzled by the fact she looks nothing like a Viperian?" Violet noted, "Seriously, she's not snake-like in the slightest!"

"Doesn't matter what she is, she's going down!" shouted Damian.

"No cadet, wait!" cried Torque.

It was too late. The eager young cadet aimed his EMP blaster and fired at his opponent. The spherical electrical shock whizzed towards Shade but she wasn't hit as the metal mercenary jumped up and somersaulted out of the way. Damian only had time to scream in terror as the assassin's vicious blade came scything towards him…

* * *

 _ **MAN does it feel like ages since I last uploaded a new chapter! So sorry for the long wait folks, I got side-tracked by Worlds of Freedom and had a bad case of Writer's Block. Hopefully I'll be able to progress normally now and get things back on track.**_

 _ **Anyway, things are not looking good for the Chasers. Are they going to fall victim to Shade's blade...?**_


	6. Chapter 6: Invited To Dinner

_Chapter 6: Invited To Dinner_

Damian would've been dead if Shade's vicious blade had come anywhere near him. She had moved so fast that he hadn't had time to prepare for her attack. She had moved faster than he could've aimed his EMP blaster and fired at her, and he had trained heavily in the art of gunplay! The cadet had closed his eyes tightly, fearing the dreaded cut that would sever his lifeline forever. But Shade's blade hadn't come close. Damian heard the sound of a foot hitting metal and he opened his eyes to see that Olaf had actually leapt up and kicked the metal warrior aside! It was surprising to see the Chief Scientist actually stick his neck out for him considering their feud. Shade was thrown aside by the kick but she skidded to a halt, landing perfectly on her feet as if the kick hadn't really been that much for her.

Sparing a moment, Olaf ran over to Damian and looked him over.

"Heavens above sonny, I thought you was a goner then!" he cried.

"I did too!" Damian yelped, "Thank you for saving my ass though Olaf!"

"Don't mention it chap." Olaf said modestly, "We may not see eye-to-eye, but I couldn't possibly bear to see you get cut to pieces."

The young cadet smiled, pleased to see that the elder Chaser wasn't such a stick-in-the-mud after all.

"Hey you two, save the hugs and kisses for later!" Terra exclaimed, "Shade's comin' at us again!"

The two quickly reacted and jumped aside as a big whoosh of air swept past them. Shade had charged towards them with her blades pointing straight forward and had come very close to skewering them. She quickly stopped herself only to then jump aside as Olaf and Damian aimed their EMP blasters at her and fired. The electrical shocks sailed towards their target but the Viperian Assassin flew out of the way with her jetpack. The shots hurled away and harmlessly hit the ground. Shade flew down towards the cadet and scientist, her jets blazing as she came rushing to them. Violet took aim and fired at Shade before she could hit the two Chasers.

The shot appeared to miss but it actually skimmed Shade across the back. It wasn't enough to knock her out and disable her, but the brief zap from the skimming shot was enough to bring her crashing down onto the ground. Shade then tensed up as if in great pain. She didn't let out any cries or yells though, her body language displaying all her agony more than sound ever could. The shock didn't last long though and she was soon back on her feet. Torque looked at her grimly, shaking his head.

"Just as resilient as before…Shade was never easy to take down." he sighed.

"Although I wasn't bang on target, I managed to give her a bit of something didn't I?" Violet noted.

"Not enough though." the captain murmured, "We need to hit her full on. But she's very evasive and these guns won't fire forever. EMP blasters will overheat if we use them too much so we can't keep missing her and wasting shots."

"So maybe we could try and wear her down first and THEN shoot her?" the navigator asked.

"We could even try distracting her and hit her with a surprise attack." Torque suggested, "Either way, we have to finish this fast before Valka and Steeljaw decide they wanna play too."

"And believe me, we can very much do without those two creeps for the time being!" grumbled Terra.

"I'm not gonna argue with you there." Torque agreed, "Remember, we distract Shade or at least wear her down and THEN we disable her with an EMP blast. Got it?"

"Clear as crystal buddy." the lieutenant declared, putting her EMP blaster away and whipping out an ordinary laser pistol, "I'd rather save some shots for the three royals right now."

Nodding understandingly, Torque put away his own EMP blaster and drew out his normal blaster just as Shade came rocketing towards him and Terra. Her blades were raised and ready for a slice but Torque and Terra both shot her straight in the face with their blasters. The shots disorientated the metal mercenary for a moment, causing her to careen to the side and land on her side. Angered, Shade stood up and glared at her opponents with her featureless visor. If she had eyes, Torque imagined they'd be full of anger and rage. Shade sheathed her blades, a move that surprised Torque but he quickly worked out why she had done that. Whenever Shade sheathed her blades, it was because she was ready to use her fists.

He, Terra and Violet were not ready for their opponent as Shade hurled herself towards them, moving at an unbelievable speed, and before anybody could register the fact Shade had even moved, Torque felt a powerful fist slam into his stomach, knocking the wind out of him and bringing him onto his knees in pain. Shade then raised her fist, aiming to slam it down onto the Chaser's head. Violet gasped in fright and quickly fired at the assassin. Her shots slammed into Shade's armoured body, forcing her to back away from the Chaser Commander. The shots did no visible damage to Shade's body as she was hit but Violet liked how they seemed to at least force her backwards, something that she and the others would have to use to their advantage. She kept up her shooting, wondering if she would eventually penetrate the deadly machine's armour. But the navigator's plan was not to last for Shade raised her arms and fired a laser blast of her own from her forearms. Violet was so surprised that she hadn't even had time to dodge as the shots slammed into her, whisking her off her feet and throwing her backwards. Violet landed on her back, wincing in pain as she landed.

Terra glared at the mechanical warrior angrily, furious to have seen her do that to Violet and she was quick to shoot at her with her pistols. Shade had unfortunately heard her priming her guns and preparing to shoot so she had quickly shifted out of the way before the shots could even hit her. Shade raised her arms and fired back at Terra, forcing the she-alien to fall back before she could get hit. Although she didn't know Shade having never fought her beforehand, she didn't want to know what happens when her shots hit their target. Torque ran up behind Shade as she was dealing with Terra and he kicked her hard in the back. Shade staggered, surprised by the attack. She deployed her blades and then spun around on the spot, nearly slicing Torque's face off as she edged towards him.

The captain had narrowly avoided her by leaning backwards, gasping as the air swept across his face from the swipe. The moment his opponent stopped, Torque lashed out and punched Shade in the chin. Although the punch had an effect, it hurt him more than it had hurt the assassin. Torque rubbed his fist in pain while Shade straightened up as if nothing had happened. She spun around again but her blades weren't the weapons she was aiming for Torque this time. The he-alien was sent hurling into the air as he was walloped by her tail. The tail-whip was one of Shade's most powerful moves and Torque had experienced it beforehand. He was thrown by the smack and he landed slap bang on top of his ship. Pain flared through the commander's body, forcing him to remain lying down for a moment, wondering which part to rub better.

"Ungh…I'd hoped I wouldn't have to feel that tail-whip again…" he muttered.

As Torque recovered, Damian and Olaf came running towards Shade with their blasters in hand. They had overheard Torque's plan earlier and had swapped their EMPs for ordinary blasters this time. They fired at their opponent but Shade swatted away their attacks by spinning around with her blades still deployed, making her a bladed tornado that could cut through anything that stood in her way. Her blades sliced through the laser blasts as Damian and Olaf fired at her. The two recoiled, amazed at the impressive feat that the android assassin was performing.

"How extraordinary…" Olaf murmured, "This Shade character's quite a staple of science! I'd love to see what she's made of…literally if we ever get the chance."

"Don't praise her you idiot! She's the enemy and she's trying to kill us!" Damian retorted.

Olaf promptly smacked himself for giving the enemy some kind of compliment. He hoped the High Officer would never hear of this or he would be in serious trouble. The scientist refocused on the battle as Shade came slicing through the air towards him and Damian. He and the young cadet split up as Shade hurled past, missing them by inches. The robo-warrior stopped herself before she could hit anything and spun around, quickly aiming at the two Chaser's backs and shooting at them. The shots hit Damian and Olaf and knocked them both down onto their stomachs. The blasts stung furiously as they hit, leaving the two unable to get up for a minute. Shade watched as her two opponents tried to stand back up. She wouldn't give them the chance to fight her some more. But before she could even prepare to kill the two, the android assassin noted that Terra and Violet were running towards her. It was a very foolish move on their part, or so Shade thought.

Shade drew her arms back, hoping to trick the two into coming in too close so she could skewer them both before they realized what was happening. But Terra and Violet had expected that so instead of continuing to run towards Shade, they instead split up and began to run around the sides of her. This complicated things for their opponent. She couldn't attack them both at once; she'd have to pick one or the other. Shade dived for Terra since she was the more important one, leaving Violet the chance to bombard her in the back with a hail fire of laser blasts.

Shade staggered as she was hit but surprisingly, didn't so much as grunt from the laser fire. Terra wondered for a moment if it was because the mechanical mercenary was incapable of feeling pain. The lieutenant then charged into Shade and rammed her in the stomach with her shoulder. She didn't stop running though, carrying Shade off her feet and whisking her across the battlefield as she continued to charge. She then slammed the assassin straight into the hull of the downed flagship, the impact leaving a slight dent in the metal that was shaped like Shade's jetpack. Terra pinned Shade to the wall but the Chaser wouldn't be able to keep her trapped there for long due to being so much weaker. Shade grabbed Terra by the face and pushed her away, giving herself enough space to knee the turquoise alien in the belly. Terra stumbled backwards, spluttering from the attack and had no idea what hit her as Shade suddenly spun around on the spot and roundhouse kicked her in the face. The she-alien hurled through the air and crashed down onto her side, groaning in pain from the kick.

Shade then held her blades together in an X shape, preparing to make the final lunge that would see her Chaser enemy cut to pieces before anybody could blink. Violet ran in to protect her friend, ramming her shoulder into her opponent's gut and making her double over. Shade recovered quickly and then tried to cleave through the violet Chaser's head with her blade. Yelping, Violet quickly clapped both hands together and caught the blade in her hands. Shade didn't care though. She still had another blade and Violet wouldn't be able to protect herself from that too. She drew her arm back and prepared to stab Violet in the ribs. She didn't get the chance to attack for suddenly, a heavy blast hit her in the back and the robo-warrior found herself being electrocuted violently after said blast had hit her. Violet leapt back from Shade to avoid being electrocuted herself.

Torque was still on top of the Chaser ship and had chosen the moment to draw out his EMP blaster and shoot Shade in the back with it. He cried out with triumph as he watched the blast take out his captain's killer. Shade remained standing for a minute as she was electrocuted and then the moment the shocking had ceased, she keeled over and collapsed onto the ground. She did not move again after that. Violet prodded her with her foot just to make doubly sure Shade was disabled. The assassin didn't respond. Torque flew down from the top of the ship and landed just before Shade. He kicked her, a slight edge to his actions.

"That was for my captain…" he growled.

"Good shot captain!" Violet applauded, "She's out cold now!"

"I bet she'll wake up again shortly." Terra muttered, "Cyborgs and robots always do wake up again after an EMP blast."

"We'll make sure that when she does wake up though, she'll be helpless." Torque declared, "We'll take her onboard and have all her weapons removed. Then we'll restrain her and find out what makes her tick. Maybe we can use her against any of Brevon's remaining forces and the Viperians."

"Good idea Torque." agreed Terra, "First we make a battle mech like how Brevon does and now we're going to make his assassin our own weapon. He must be rolling in his grave right now!"

"I like to think that every slight against him is still hurting him in some way." the commander muttered grimly, "It's what he deserves. OK then, let's get Shade onboard and disarm her for inspection." he ordered.

The girls obeyed and bent down to help Torque pick up Shade. Damian and Olaf, who were thrilled to see the assassin disabled, ran over to help as well. It took all five of them to fully hoist Shade off the ground and even then, they seemed to struggle due to how heavy she was. Torque wondered if General Gong would even have trouble picking her up. That was when he suddenly thought of Avalice again. What would it have been like if Shade had invaded Avalice to assassinate Lilac? He was sure that Lilac would've held her own but thankfully, he wouldn't have to worry about such a possibility now Shade was unconscious and soon to be disarmed. How fortuitous that the High Officer had given he and his crew EMP blasters!

But as the five headed towards their ship, they were suddenly forced to flee for cover as a hail of laser fire came showering down around them. The attack had come so suddenly that the five Chasers hadn't even managed to dodge the shots unscathed. Violet was hit in the leg by one blast and another had landed between Olaf's shoulders. Both navigator and scientist were brought down, pain searing through their stricken parts as they were hit. Terra had been lightly skimmed across the shoulder by one of the shots and Damian was hit on the hand but the two weren't downed by the hits. Torque was the only one who had avoided being hit and even then, it had been very close. The shot had only missed him by millimetres.

Terra and Damian ran back to help up Olaf and Violet, only to then be showered by more shots. Purple plasma blasts rained down all around them, forcing the four to hurry. Violet was having trouble running thanks to her singed leg and Olaf seemed to be in pain from whenever his shoulders moved as he ran. The blasts hit all four Chasers, knocking them down onto the ground. Torque gasped in horror and began shooting back wildly with his own blaster pistol. He had no idea where the shots were coming from and hoped to just hit the gunman by chance. He managed to stop a lot of the hailing blasts from hitting him and his friends by shooting the blasts but he didn't hit the man pulling the trigger. His shots came nowhere near.

It was then that the blasts suddenly stopped and a snake-like figure jumped down from the roof of the Royal Fortress. Torque instantly managed to guess who it was before the gunman had even emerged from the shadows. It was of course, General Serpentine. The cyber-snake cackled his usual abrasive cackle as he came into view.

"Surprised commander?!" he sneered.

"Not really." muttered Torque, "I've come to your doorstep and just taken out Valka's pet assassin so it was only a matter of time before you showed up."

"Mother and father allowed me the privilege of watching your demise at the hands of Shade from the roof." Serpentine explained, "But sadly, you just had to EMP her and make her look like a joke! Well now the joke's on YOU Chaser! You're in MY world now, meaning you're at a serious disadvantage since the whole population will be after you now!"

"Which is why we came prepared." growled Torque, aiming his EMP blaster at the Viperian Prince, "If you don't want this to be painful, I suggest you come now before you get shocked into unconsciousness."

"You think you scare me commander?" the cyber-snake gloated, "You're only trying to aggrandize yourself by making yourself appear courageous! But I can see through your pathetic act! You're still the same miserable failure you always have been!"

"If that's the case then how come I just knocked out your faithful living weapon?" the captain retorted.

"A small victory compared to your masses of failures!" Serpentine taunted, "I mean your captain was still killed and your previous crew aren't still living are they? And you couldn't stop me from escaping three weeks ago! And need we forget that it wasn't even YOU who killed Lord Brevon? You could never defeat him! Instead you needed that sparkly twit to do the dirty work for you! You're a pathetic specimen Chaser and a failure of a captain! And it is precisely your failure as to why you and your friends are dead!"

The Chaser tried his best not to lose his cool. He knew that Serpentine was just trying to goad him into getting angry so that he would make mistakes. He was also trying to lower his self-esteem and distract him so that he could take advantage. But Torque wasn't going to let Serpentine get to him. He aimed for the prince's chest and was about to shoot. But he was foiled by a sudden heavy blow to the head that came from nowhere. Torque hadn't even known what had hit him. All he had heard was something smashing through his helmet and then the hit had come. Terra, Violet, Damian and Olaf all gasped in horror as their captain reeled to the side and collapsed, barely conscious and heavily disorientated. His air helmet lay shattered in pieces around him. Some of the shards had cut Torque's head, causing him to bleed slightly. Steeljaw had silently slithered up behind Torque and walloped him across the head to bring him down. He had been hiding behind the ship the whole time having slithered to it after Shade had begun the fight. He had waited until Serpentine had presented the right moment for him to strike, which was what he and his son had planned in the first place. Now he had emerged, showing himself to his helpless victims. Terra's blood boiled at the sight of the vile king whereas Serpentine looked at him with delight.

"Excellent ambush father!" he praised.

"Thank you my son." Steeljaw purred, "Now then, let's get these trespassers into the dungeon. Your mother has questions for them."

"Go to hell! We're not gonna tell you bastards anything!" Terra snarled.

"Oh you'll talk my dear whether you want to or not." the Viperian king sneered.

He then seized Torque and draped him over his shoulder, the captain too weak to fight back. Serpentine then drew out his pistols and aimed at the other four.

"MOVE!" he barked, "Or I kill you all now!"

Terra slowly climbed up onto her feet, helping Violet up for she couldn't stand properly. Damian and Olaf stood up too and the four all walked ahead as the prince slithered behind them, guns focused on them and eyes fixated, making sure they weren't going to try anything foolish. Steeljaw took up the rear, carrying Torque on his huge shoulder. As the Chasers were taken away, nobody realized that there was a witness to all of this. A pair of eyes peered out from underneath a rock, watching as the prisoners were escorted inside. The eyes were full of fright as if the hidden person was afraid for the Chasers. As soon as Torque and friends were taken inside, the unseen figure descended down, its eyes no longer visible under the rock…

* * *

Later, Torque and his four friends had been escorted into the fortress dungeon and thrown into a cell by Serpentine and Steeljaw. Valka had been waiting for them and had smiled delightedly as the five prisoners were delivered to the cell. She was pleased to see that Torque was among the captured, something that she would savour every minute of given how he was the captain of this new Chaser group. She could even use Torque for ransom purposes, make the High Officer of the Coalition of Planets keel over and beg for Torque's freedom. She was going to enjoy this very much and she planned to make the most of this glorious turn of events.

As the five Chasers were herded into the cell, Serpentine pointed his guns at them and ordered them to remove their air helmets and then stand against the wall with their arms by their sides. With no way out of the situation, the team had no choice but to comply. They removed their helmets and then backed up to the wall. The moment they did so, laser binds emitted from the wall around both sides and wrapped around their bodies, firmly fixing them to the wall. They couldn't move. The lasers held them tightly to the wall. Torque didn't even try to struggle, knowing it wouldn't do him any good. Even if he got away, he wouldn't get very far thanks to his throbbing head. He'd be slowed down. Valka's scaly lips curled into a hideous smile.

"Thisss isss sssso gloriousssss!" she hissed delightedly, "I have Torque and hissss four friendssss completely at my mercy at lasssst! And all thankssss to Shade and you two!" she added, glancing over at her son and husband.

"The pleasure was all ours dear." Steeljaw said politely.

"It was a pity that Shade got disabled but we'll have her back on her feet in no time." Serpentine announced, "Maybe when these five morons answer our questions, we can let Shade play with them for our amusement!"

"I like that idea very much my sssson." the Viperian Queen said, patting the general on the head.

"Ugh, please stop showing family affection for each other! You're making us sick!" Terra gagged, sticking her tongue out.

"Terra, the fact we're still alive is something we should be grateful for, try not to give the Viperians a reason to kill us." Torque muttered.

The she-alien nodded and kept her mouth closed, not daring to say anything else. Valka didn't seem to be offended by the Chaser's cheeky remark though. It was as if the insult had flown over her head. She slithered closer to her captives, making all five of them cringe in disgust. Just being near the hideous cyber-snake was enough to make them feel like barfing.

"I can't ssssay I'm ssssurprised to ssssee you mongrels here." snarled Valka, "I expected ssssuch an invasion from you brats three weeks ago. It's a good thing that Ssssteeljaw delayed your attempts to try and recapture my sssson otherwisssse you might've been lucky three weeks ago."

"It's just a damn pity we weren't…" Damian sighed.

"So what have you been up to for the past three weeks then?" Torque demanded, "Plotting to invade Avalice no doubt."

"What gives you that idea then commander?" Valka asked innocently.

"Isn't it obvious?" the captain snapped, "Your son worked for Brevon. Avalice ruined his reputation and he's no doubt told you that Lilac killed him. You have every reason to invade Avalice at this point."

"So is that what this is all about?" Steeljaw cut in, "You're not here to recapture Serpentine, you're instead here to stop us from invading Avalice right?"

"We're here to do both." Torque confirmed, "Re-arrest Serpentine, arrest you two and stop you Viperians from going anywhere near Avalice. Given you've had three weeks without us getting in your way, I can only hope that you haven't started the invasion already."

"Believe it or not, we haven't!" Serpentine barked, "We've been preparing for it but it's been taking longer than we thought for reasons too personal to get into."

"Looks like we aren't the only ones who had to deal with a delay…" sneered Violet.

Serpentine glared at Violet and raised his pistol, itching to shoot her with it. But Valka put a hand on his shoulder and shook her head. Understanding his mother's disapproval, Serpentine lowered his pistol.

"We need them alive my prince, no killing yet." Valka said.

"I apologize mother." Serpentine said.

Valka just smiled and patted her son on the back. She then turned back to her captives.

"Sssso now you and your crew have tressspassssed on our planet, we're going to have to punish you five." she hissed menacingly, "Nobody comessss to Vipossss without our permission!"

"And yet you seem to have no problem invading Coalition HQ, killing anyone onboard and breaking out a prisoner." Olaf sniffed.

"You banter with me again, any of you, and I'm going to mace you all to death!" the cyber-snake roared, raising her mace-tipped tail and threatening to swing it.

Olaf recoiled and pressed his lips tightly closed. Satisfied with the scared silence, Valka continued.

"But firssst, we need ssssome information from you before your punishments take place. Tell me…where is Coalition HQ now? Given we found out its location, I'm correct to assssume that you've relocated right?"

"You're a few screws loose if you think we're gonna answer that!" Damian retorted.

"Oh you're all going to tell me lesssst I be forced to take drassstic measures!" Valka growled, jamming her face into the cadet's, "And you're alssso going to tell me if there are anymore of you on your ship or if you five are the only ones here! Answer these two questionssss and your penancesss will be more lenient! Don't ssssquander my generosssity, you may not be sssso fortunate the next time I ask you these questions."

The Chasers took in the questions and wondered how to answer them. They could easily lie to Valka, give a false location for Coalition HQ and say they were the only five Chasers here to give their crew the chance to try and break them out. But would the Viperian Queen believe them? And if she didn't, would she resort to torture to make them crack? Torque swallowed hard.

"We can't tell you where Coalition HQ is now." he said bravely, "But we CAN tell you that there are only five of us here. There's nobody else in our ship. It's just me, Terra, Violet, Damian and Olaf."

Valka put a metallic claw to her organic lips and pondered about the answer for a moment. She didn't believe Torque for a minute. Surely it wasn't just him and his four friends! She knew that the Chasers were not stupid enough to think that they could arrest her, Steeljaw and Serpentine and also stop their plans to invade Avalice with just five of them. She was also annoyed that Torque wasn't fessing up Coalition HQ's location. She would get him to talk even if she had to chop his friends up to make him crack. She leaned in forwards, gazing into Torque's eyes. The Chaser Captain pressed himself hard against the wall, trying not to stare into Valka's optics. It was like she was trying to hypnotize him.

"Sssso, it's jusssst the five of you isss it?" she sneered, "What a terrible misssscalculation commander. You thought only five of you were enough to ssssucceed in your mission?"

"Quality, not quantity." Torque spat.

"Yessss, I ssssupose sssso." the queen mused, "But I'm not happy you're refussssing to ansssswer my firsssst quesssstion." she suddenly growled, her voice suddenly lower and more menacing, "Where is Coalition HQ's new location? And don't you dare try to lie to me either. If you attempt to lie, I'll have my forcessss invade every planet I know and kill as many people as it takesss to make you crack. Thissss isss your ONLY warning commander, I will NOT asssk again!"

Torque suddenly found himself feeling very nervous indeed. He could feel a cold sweat trickling down his face as he turned the threat over in his head. If he lied, Valka would have innocent people killed and he wouldn't be able to stop her! He couldn't tell the truth though. He'd be betraying the Coalition of Planets! Maybe he could lie and with any luck, his crew would save him and the others before they could leave and go to the headquarters' fake location. It was a risky gambit, but one worth taking. If he managed to get away alive, he'd be able to stop the Viperians from going anywhere. Sighing, Torque decided to give his plan a go.

"Alright…if you want Coalition HQ's location? You've got it." he muttered.

"Are you out of your mind?!" Damian shrieked, "You can't tell her!"

"What will the High Officer say Captain?!" Olaf blurted.

"I have no choice!" Torque yelled, pretending to sound distraught, "It's either that or innocent people get killed! Besides, the High Officer can take care of himself so why worry? Coalition HQ is in the Nebula Quadrant just in the area outside of the Sigma Galaxy." he lied.

"Are you lying to me?" Valka snarled.

"Not in the slightest!" Torque piped anxiously, "Honest! My friends will tell you the same!"

Terra and the others all suddenly realized what Torque was planning. They decided to go along with it.

"It's true, our captain's telling the truth!" Terra vouched.

"Cross our hearts and hope to die!" Violet piped.

"Very well then…" Valka purred, "Thankssss ever sssso much for complying. I'll be ssssure to give the High Officer our regardssss." she hissed sinisterly.

"Provided he doesn't beat you to a pulp first." Torque snorted.

"The commander isn't exaggerating." Steeljaw confirmed, "The High Officer is NOT somebody to take lightly. He managed to kill the escaping members of Brevon's crew with ease. When we invade, we have to be very careful of him."

Valka nodded, taking in her husband's words. He had been there to help rescue Serpentine and thus, would've seen the High Officer fight. She had no reason to doubt him.

"I'll take in your warning then my king." she said, "In the meantime, let us finish preparing for the invasion of Avalice…and also for dinner. I'm looking forward to ssssinking my fangssss into those Chassssers. I bet they'll taste as good as Phoenix did when we ate him."

The five captives all stared in horror at the Viperian Queen. This was their punishment no doubt but they hadn't anticipated something like this! Valka and her husband and son were going to eat them?! Torque could now see that his plan was likely to go horribly wrong if he didn't escape and fast. He had to get out now before he was a Viperian's dinner! He tugged on his restraints, desperate to break free.

"NO! You can't do that! You can't eat us!" he begged.

"You're monsters! All of you!" Terra screamed, "When I get outta here, I'm gonna bash your heads in!"

"I'd like to see you try. Those restraints are state of the art laser binds! You'll never get loose!" Serpentine crowed, "You're going to be a feast for me, mother and father and you haven't a hope of escaping beforehand! Oh and I'm going to search your ship to make sure you weren't lying to mother about there being only you five. If I find any more Chasers on your ship, we'll eat them too! We'll send your bare bones back to Coalition HQ once we find that station so the High Officer can see what's become of you all!"

Then for no reason other than to rub it in his captive's faces, he let out a loud, abrasive cackle that radiated all the arrogance he could muster. The general's laughter seemed to do nothing more than irritate the Chasers, all five of them frowning as if wishing they could break free of their restraints and pound Serpentine into the dirt. Once Serpentine had finished laughing, he turned his back on the Chasers and slithered out of the cell. Valka and Steeljaw followed him, taking one last glance over at their captives before closing the door behind them. Outside the cell, a single Viperian guard was standing by, a spear in his metal hands and a serious look on his face. Valka turned to the guard.

"You will guard the prisonerssss until it issss time for dinner." she ordered, "Do NOT leave your possst for any reassson."

"Understood your majesty." said the guard, his tone flat and serious as if he was incapable of expressing any other emotion.

Satisfied, the Viperian Queen left the cell with her husband and son by her side. Inside the cell, Torque and the others waited until they couldn't hear the sound of their slithering anymore before he sighed loudly. He had heard Valka talking to the guard outside and thus, decided to speak quietly so he wouldn't be overheard.

"Well...this didn't go well." he moaned.

"What was your plan anyway?" Olaf asked inquisitively, "I'm not sure I understand it captain."

"The idea was that I lie to them just to get them to leave us alone and so our crew could have time to break us out." Torque explained, "I also thought that if we got away, we could get back to Coalition HQ and tell them that we tricked the Viperians into going to the Nebula Quadrant so we could then lay a trap for them. But Serpentine's gonna search the ship for our crew and we're gonna be eaten."

"Our crew have EMP blasters." Terra noted, "The moment Serpentine sets foot on our ship, they'll just knock him out."

"But Serpentine watched us disable Shade. He'll be expecting EMP blasters from them." the commander noted, "Thus he'll dodge their shots until they run out of shots and then come in for the kill. And he might not even go in alone if he thinks there might be more of us onboard. Our crew will have a slim chance of survival."

The Chasers all nodded, feeling that their captain was absolutely right. It seemed that Torque's idea was going horribly wrong and because he'd lied to Valka, she'd start murdering people on many different planets until somebody revealed the true location of Coalition HQ. Torque wouldn't be able to tell her since he'd be dead before then but he imagined Valka would send a message and make a demand for the High Officer.

And then there was the invasion of Avalice. It would go ahead without him and his crew to stop them and Lilac and her friends wouldn't stand much of a chance without the proper weaponry. Innocent people were going to be killed and it would be all his fault. Maybe Serpentine was right. Maybe he was a failure of a captain after all. He had failed the High Officer. He had failed his crew. And worst of all...he had failed his love.

If Lilac was to die because of his failure to stop the Viperians, Torque doubted he'd ever be able to live with that weight on his shoulders. He couldn't bear to think about it. He had to escape and he had to do it now. He wasn't going to fail as disastrously as this.

"OK, has anybody got any idea how to get out of these binds?" he asked, motioning to the lasers wrapped around him.

"I'm stumped for ideas sonny." Olaf murmured, "Laser binds are the best kind of restraints one can use. They're unbreakable and the only way out is if we can short circuit the laser emitters but what can we do in this situation?"

"I think Olaf's right. There's no way out." Damian sighed.

"Maybe there isn't a way out...but maybe we don't need to get out..." Terra murmured thoughtfully, "Maybe the guard can do it for us."

"What are you talking about?" asked Torque curiously.

Terra didn't answer. Instead, her face suddenly twisted in agony as if she was suddenly in a lot of pain. She winced and moaned loudly and then began to pant heavily. Torque looked at her worriedly. What was wrong with his friend? She seemed to be in total agony for seemingly no reason. Then Terra began to splutter helplessly.

"H-help...somebody please help!" she cried feebly, "Something's deadly wrong!" she panted some more before continuing, "My heart...it's killing me! Help!"

Torque then suddenly understood. He knew full well that Terra was faking since she was too fit and healthy to suddenly be having a problem with her heart. But the Viperian Guard wouldn't be so smart. It seemed Terra had the perfect escape plan and it was bound to work!

The guard heard Terra's feeble cries for help from outside the cell. It sounded like the Chaser was in a lot of trouble. He opened the door and slithered inside just in time to see Terra gasp as if she was having trouble breathing. She was contorted with anguish. Torque, Damian, Violet and Olaf were looking at her helplessly, not knowing what to do.

"Somebody do something!" Violet shrieked, "I think Terra's having a heart-attack!"

"She needs medical attention quickly!" Damian cried, "She'll die if we don't help her!"

The guard just snorted.

"So what if she does die? It just means that we're spared the job of killing her ourselves." he muttered.

Then suddenly, Terra let out one last hoarse gasp before her head flopped forward and her eyes closed. She didn't move after that. The guard slithered up to the unconscious Chaser and prodded her. Terra didn't move. It seemed she was dead. She had been given the mercy of dying before the Viperians could do it themselves. Valka would be a little annoyed but the guard knew she wouldn't mind too much. It just meant they had an easier time now there was one Chaser already dead. The guard shook his head.

"Looks like her heart gave out on her. I knew you Chasers were weak." he sneered, "Well, best deliver this to the kitchen so our chefs can prepare her for the Royal Feast later."

"At least she'll be joining her brother..." Torque sniffed, "But don't think we're going down so easily! We'll avenge our fallen friend you see if we don't!"

The guard ignored him and pulled out a remote with five switches on it. He pressed the switch for Terra's binds so he could take the body to the kitchen. But the moment the laser binds were switched off, Terra's head lifted up and she pounced on the guard, a triumphant smirk on her face. The guard squealed in surprise as he was knocked down onto his back and the remote was snatched out of his hand. Terra stomped on his face to knock him out and then pressed the four buttons on the remote to free the others. The laser binds switched off and Torque, Olaf, Damian and Violet quickly stepped away from the wall. Delighted with how beautifully the plan had worked, Torque grasped Terra into a tight hug.

"You genius! That was the best escape plan I've ever seen!" he cried, "Oh Terra, you're a life saver!"

"Ha, ha! Thanks buddy." Terra said modestly.

"You scared me for a moment though!" Violet gasped, "I really did think you was having a heart-attack! Your performance was so convincing!"

"I am a spy as well as a lieutenant remember Vi?" Terra shrugged, "Spies are trained to be good actors. And those skills sure as heck came into good use!"

"You bet! They got us our ticket outta here!" Damian cried.

"Now we can stop Serpentine from sticking his nose into our ship." Olaf declared.

"And once our crew's safe, we can see to stopping the Viperians from invading Avalice and get Serpentine, Valka and Steeljaw thrown behind bars for good." Torque added, "Come on, let's go! We haven't a moment to lose!"

The Chasers did not wait to be asked twice. The team all filed out of the cell as quickly as possible, locking the door behind them so they could keep the guard from informing the royals what had happened. Now they were out of the dungeon, they quickly ran down the corridor to escape the fortress and get back to their ship before Serpentine could claim any lives that were onboard...

* * *

Meanwhile, Serpentine had assembled an attack squad of eight Viperian soldiers, all with powerful armour and weapons, and was now slithering towards the fallen Chaser ship. The Viperian Prince reminded himself to thank Shade for punching a hole through one of the wings so that the ship wouldn't be able to fly away. If there were any Chasers on-board, they wouldn't be able to flee. They knew every inch of Vipos so they wouldn't be able to hide from them. Their ship wasn't fit to fly with a hole in one of its wings so they were grounded. How fun it was going to be to pick off every last member of Torque's crew! He imagined that the Chaser Commander would take this fall very hard. He had after all, vowed never to lose another crew. Serpentine had his trademark pistols in his hands, his metal fingers itching to pull the triggers. He loved the feel of them in his hands. His guns were as part of him as an arm or a leg.

"There it is my men." Serpentine hissed, "Approach with extreme caution. If those five were armed with EMP blasters than the rest of Torque's crew will have them too. If the ship's empty then we can just take it for ourselves. I bet mother would put their ship to great use!"

He smiled at such a thought. How angry the High Officer would be if he saw the Chaser flagship return only for it to be full of Viperians instead of Chasers! Coming to think of it, that would be a brilliant idea for an ambush when he and his men invaded Coalition HQ to take out the Coalition of Planets for good. Serpentine grinned to himself. This was one invasion that he was sure was going to work brilliantly, just like the invasion of Avalice. The cyber-snake came up to the boarding ramp of the flagship and pointed his guns at the door. Now came the moment of truth, the moment where he would find out if Torque and his four friends were indeed the only ones here or not.

"Chasers! This is General Serpentine! If there are any of you inside, come out this minute!" he barked.

Inside, the rest of Torque's crew heard Serpentine's order. There were a sizable amount of them inside the ship, all ranging in shapes, sizes and colours. A red Chaser with green eyes frowned in annoyance at what he'd heard. He and some others were standing by the door, waiting for Torque to give them orders to come out. Now Serpentine was here, presumably for them!

"Something must have gone wrong." the red Chaser muttered, "Serpentine's here. He must be coming for us."

"Do you think the captain was forced to tell them about us?" a pink coloured Chaser asked worriedly.

"Given the general's words, "If there are any of you inside", he must be here to check up on that fact." the red Chaser replied, "Either way, we're gonna have to fight him off if we have any hopes of breaking into the fortress and saving Torque and his four main members."

"Good thing we have just the weapons we need." the pink Chaser noted, drawing out her EMP blaster.

"It sure is..." the red Chaser agreed, "We'll have Serpentine knocked out and thrown in the holding cells with these guns."

He drew out his own EMP blaster and held up a hand to the crew members behind him, ordering them to wait until the right moment to strike. The Chaser slowly peeked around the edge of the door to see what Serpentine was doing. The loud-mouthed snake was still waiting at the bottom of the boarding ramp, his guns pointed at the entrance and waiting for a response.

"Chasers! Come out now and make things easier for yourselves!" he barked, "Don't make me come in there!"

The crew member thought that now would be a good time to shoot. The general wouldn't be expecting anyone to suddenly leap out and shoot at him so he had the element of surprise on his side. Taking his chance, the Chaser pointed his EMP blaster at Serpentine and fired at him. Unfortunately for him, the Viperian Prince had actually been anticipating such an attack and was already leaping out of the way before the shot had even cleared half the distance between him and the Chaser. The EMP blast missed completely and hit the ground, scorching it slightly. The Viperian Guards took this as all the excuse they needed to shoot back so they aimed their own blasters and opened fire.

No sooner had the first shot been fired, the whole area became a hail-fire of EMP blasts and pistol fire. The Chaser crew had all gathered in front of the entrance to the ship to shoot at the Viperians while the Viperians spread out, taking strategic positions around the battlefield to shoot at their opponents. They managed to dodge many of the EMP blasts though the crew weren't just using those to shoot. They had their ordinary guns to shoot with as well and used them more than the EMP blasters to avoid overheating them. Serpentine blasted away crazily with his twin pistols, cackling demonically as he did so.

"I knew the commander was lying!" he cackled, "Well now we're going to have more Chasers for dinner! Ah, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!"

He aimed at the Chasers in the door way and blasted at them like a maniac. The Chasers quickly dived behind the corners and hid for a moment as Serpentine blasted away. It was the one thing that made him such a dangerous foe, his tendency to blast away crazily and leave little chance for anyone to fire back. But the crew knew something that the general didn't. There were more ways to get out of the ship than just down the boarding ramp. Four of them ran over to a ladder on the wall and climbed up to an emergency hatch in the ceiling. They opened it and let themselves out so they could climb onto the roof of the ship and shoot at Serpentine. They were more open up on the roof but they were giving their friends down inside the chance to fight back. The four Chasers shot at the Viperians, distracting them away from the boarding ramp and prompting them to shoot up. Even Serpentine had to dodge and jump away before any EMP shots from above could hit him. Now the Chasers in the ship had more of a chance to fight back.

The red and pink Chasers emerged from the corners and fired their EMP blasters. They managed to hit two of Serpentine's men and knock them out, leaving only six left. The general growled angrily aimed his pistols at their EMP blasters. Those impudent Chasers wouldn't be knocking out anymore of his men! But before he could fire, a sudden whooshing sound was heard up in the sky. Everybody stopped firing and looked up to see what looked like a rocket shooting up from nowhere. Who had fired it and where had it come from? The rocket then stopped flying and began to nose-dive towards the ground. The curious thing was...it was aimed at Serpentine and his men! The Viperians quickly scattered as the rocket exploded just above and sent a shower of blazing balls raining down onto the ground. It was like watching a meteor shower, only this one was man made and much closer to the surface. The fireballs hit many of the Viperians, burning them badly and making them cry out in pain. Then another rocket came out from nowhere and exploded, adding more fireballs to the blazing shower that was already happening.

Serpentine shot at them to keep them from hitting him but he knew full well that he wouldn't be able to stop them all from striking their targets. There were too many of them and now the mysterious shooter was launching another rocket up into the sky to add more to the hail of fireballs. Whoever was attacking was very well equipped and armed. He only had six men still conscious, not enough for an attack like this. Snarling viciously, Serpentine turned to his injured comrades.

"Fall back!" he barked.

The Viperians nodded and quickly turned tail, fleeing before they could get burnt some more. As they fled, a fourth rocket exploded in the air and sent another shower of fireballs down onto the ground. The fiery shower narrowly missed the fleeing Viperians as they quickly filed into the Royal Fortress. The Chaser crew stood where they were, utterly dumbfounded by what had happened. They all looked at each other as if wondering if any of them had the answer.

"Who did that?" asked one Chaser.

"Is there another Chaser group hiding here?" asked a second.

The red and pink Chasers both stepped out of their ship and looked around curiously. The fire shower had stopped and no more rockets were being launched so it was safe.

"Well that was definitely unusual Cassia." the red Chaser said.

"I know. We're just shooting at the Viperians and then some guardian angel helps us chase them off!" Cassia blurted, "Who do you think it was Vinnie?"

"I dunno but when I find our mysterious helper, I'm gonna thank them for their aid." Vinnie declared.

Then Vinnie saw something just barely visible out of the corner of his eye. It was something emerging from a pile of rocks nearby and coming towards him. The mysterious shooter? Vinnie and Cassia both turned to see what was coming. The rest of the crew filed out from the Chaser ship and stood behind the red and pink Chasers to see what it was coming to them. As the thing came closer to them, they all suddenly gasped incredulously. The figure that was coming towards them...was a Viperian! But this one looked friendly and kind, a sharp contrast to the often hostile behaviour of the Viperian race. It also had no cybernetics. It looked exactly like an ordinary snake with blue scales and no robotic torsos, arms, attachments or anything. The only thing it wore was a helmet that looked more old-fashioned than hi-tech like the cyber-snakes's helmets. The Chasers were afraid but upon observing this stranger, they began to have doubts about their mystery helper. Why was this Viperian devoid of any cybernetics?

The alien snake stopped slithering and stood up tall. It wasn't very tall though, only about the height of the Chasers themselves. The snake wasn't very long in the body.

"It's a pleasure to meet The Chasers at last." it said, its voice clearly male, "And it's also a pleasure to have aided you in fending off that vile Prince Serpentine."

"You're...a Viperian!" Cassia exclaimed, "B-but...you helped us. Why?"

"I'll explain everything once my agent helps your captain to escape." the Viperian said.

"You mean you sent somebody in there to rescue him?" Vinnie asked.

"Indeed." the alien snake replied, "My name is Karlow and I am one of many Viperians...who despise Vipos's current way of life..."

* * *

 _ **Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! What?! There's... a GOOD Viperian on Vipos?! Looks like Torque has some friends on this planet after all! But will Karlow's agent help to get him out of the fortress and reunite with the crew? Or will Serpentine get his own back?**_

 ** _Join in next time as we learn that "Not All Viperians Are Bad"..._**


End file.
